Libitina
by Splatter Fall
Summary: “What the hell happened back there?” Sanji snapped, waving a hand in the direction they had come from. Zoro leaned heavily against a tree and glanced at the blond. “A plant tried to eat us.” Obviously.
1. Chapter 1

It was a lovely day in the small port town where the Thousand Sunny had docked to resupply. Bright, sunny, warm without being too hot, a light sea breeze washing over the small harbor town, and no one was shooting at them. Truly a beautiful day.

And the fact that Zoro was observing this scene alone had him wondering why the _hell_ he was the only one loading supplies. "Luffy!"

It wasn't his captain who answered, but instead Sanji as his blond head poked out of the galley to glare at Zoro for being so loud. "Shut up, idiot, he's not here."

Zoro returned the glare as he hauled another crate of who-knew-what onto the ship. "Where the hell is he?"

"He went with Nami and Franky into town," Sanji said distractedly and turned to head back inside.

Zoro frowned and decided he should pay more attention to that sort of thing. "Then get your ass out here and help."

Sanji paused to send an annoyed look Zoro's way. "I'm busy." This earned him a scowl and he smirked. "What, can't manage by yourself?" he taunted.

"I have better things to do than spend all day hauling this stuff." There sure as hell was enough of it; crates and barrels and other supplies were stacked high on the dock waiting to be carried onto the ship. Sanji had done the shopping that morning with Zoro and Chopper as pack mules, and now Chopper was busy putting away delicate medical supplies while Zoro was stuck with the rest of the labor. And it wasn't as if it was overly difficult, just that it was immensely time-consuming.

Sanji offered him a disinterested look. "If you want to eat, you'll finish loading it." And then he was gone, stepping into the galley again and leaving Zoro to seethe on deck.

"Bastard cook," the swordsman muttered. "Can't even--"

"Gomu Gomu no ROCKET!" Zoro ducked on reflex just in time to avoid Luffy's speeding form as the captain launched himself onto the deck with a shrieking Nami clinging to his shoulders. Franky followed a moment later as he pulled himself aboard with his chain-arm. Apparently neither of them had considered using the _loading ramp _as a means of getting on the ship. That would have been, you know, normal_, _and thus no fun at all.

Zoro scrambled to his feet to throttle his captain, but Nami beat him to it by cracking her Clima-Tact over Luffy's head. And anyway, Franky was already offering his help with the supplies, so that served to placate the swordsman slightly.

"We could have _walked,_" Nami harped at Luffy as she regained her footing on the lawn.

"Owowow!" Luffy rubbed his abused head and gave Nami puppy-dog eyes. "But you said it was important!"

Nami blinked and then her eyes snapped to the parcel tucked neatly under her arm. She let out a delighted squeal as if she had just remembered she was carrying it and twirled with it clutched to her chest. Then she stopped and turned on Luffy with hard eyes, girly-moment thus ending. "When everything's loaded and Robin and Brooke get back, bring everyone inside, okay?" And she sauntered off to the galley to get herself a drink. Well, to have Sanji get her a drink. Same thing.

Luffy pouted after her – who was the captain here anyway? - then yelped when a cabbage hit him in the back of the head.

"Get over here and help with this stuff," Franky said as he walked by Luffy with a huge barrel balanced on each shoulder. Well his hands were full, so he hadn't thrown the offending vegetable...

Luffy looked over to where Zoro stood near the railing wearing a too-innocent expression.

The swordsman was standing right next to a slatted wooden box filled with cabbages.

Luffy let out an accusatory sound and charged the swordsman, and Zoro made a valiant attempt to get out of his captain's way, but Luffy crashed into his chest and they both pitched over the railing and fell screaming off the side of the ship, down into the warm waters below.

Franky reemerged a moment later and looked around the lawn with a confused expression, then shrugged and went back to loading supplies.

~ ;3 ~

"You had something to tell us, navigator-san?" Robin inquired as she walked with Brooke into the dining room where Nami had commandeered the dining table. The room was large enough that everyone could fit comfortably and still have a good view of what the navigator had to show them.

"Yes," Nami said with a familiar gleam in her eye. Then she blinked and straightened from the table to do a head count. Franky, Robin, Brooke, Chopper, Sanji, Usopp... "Where the hell are Zoro and Luffy?"

"They were just coming out of the water when we returned," Brooke supplied.

"Out of the water...?" Nami gave the musician a confused look and then turned to the doorway as the missing pair slogged into the room. They were soaked through and looking miserable, though Luffy looked slightly worse. Nearly drowning, being rescued, then having your rescuer pummel you could do that to a person.

"You're dripping all over the floor," Sanji pointed out helpfully and Franky looked less than pleased.

"Shut up, dartboard," Zoro replied maturely as he moved to get himself a seat. He was glad he had left his swords inside, or they would have taken a dunk in the ocean right along with him.

"You starting something, marimo? You--" Nami cut Sanji off before things got messy, "Sanji, could you get Robin and I something to drink? She just got back, I'm sure she's tired."

Everyone tried their best to ignore the sappy show Sanji put on before twirling out of the room to do Nami's bidding. By the time the cook returned, everyone was settled down and waiting to see what the navigator was so excited about.

Nami waited until she had everyone's full attention before speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she said grandly as she lifted a rolled-up piece of parchment from the table and drew off the ribbon that bound it in one fluid motion, "I give you.... Libitina!"

The paper unfurled and settled over the table gracefully, revealing that it was in fact a map, and a beautiful map at that; the detail was exquisite and it looked older than any of the people currently in the room. Nami had probably swooned when she saw it.

"A map?" Luffy tipped his head to the side as he studied the paper. "What's it of?"

Nami slapped away the rubbery hand that had extended to touch the parchment and Luffy yelped. "An island," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Is it a treasure map?" Chopper asked, looking excited.

"Yes!" Nami was grinning ear-to-ear. "I picked it up in town this morning."

"You mean you stole it," Zoro commented flatly, looking less than interested. Sanji glared at him in silent warning.

"_Liberated_ it," Nami corrected. No direct denial there. "It's in much better hands now." She lovingly traced one of the faded lines on the parchment with a fingertip.

"Well it certainly is in marvelous condition, if it's appearance is any indication of its age," Brooke said as he leaned over the table to study the large map without actually touching it since Nami was watching both him and the parchment like a hawk. He tapped a skeletal finger against his chin and made a thoughtful sound.

"If it's so old, how do you know it's still accurate?" Zoro asked as he walked over to eye the map with Brooke, though he viewed it with less awe and more doubt.

"Way ahead of you," Nami said gleefully. "I went ahead and hunted up some information on the island while I was in town, and apparently no one's visited the island in decades."

"That you know of," Zoro muttered, eyes scanning the map.

Nami shoved the swordsman back with a hand on his head, since his hair was still wet and threatened to drip sea water on the delicate parchment. "You're too negative," she said dismissively. "And anyway, as the story around here goes, there's a huge treasure hidden on the island." That gleam had returned to her eyes and she looked just a tad evil.

"You're too greedy," Zoro countered mildly, and then ducked to avoid Sanji's foot.

"Don't talk to Nami-san that way," the cook snapped, and Zoro glared at him. "You want a fight?"

"I'll kick--" Luffy stood up abruptly and nearly knocked Sanji over, leaving the blond flailing to catch himself.

Luffy was grinning and everyone knew what he was about to say before he even opened his mouth; "We're going to that island!"

"Are you sure about that?" Franky asked, seeming to lean a bit more toward Zoro's opinion on the matter. "We don't know much about it. What if it's a fake?"

"What if it's dangerous?" Usopp added quickly. "There must be _something_ wrong there if no one's gone to get the treasure..."

"Doesn't matter; we're pirates, and that's a treasure map." Luffy said this like it was the only reason he needed to go chasing after some mystery treasure.

Robin smiled faintly at her captain and rose to her feet to walk over and study the map herself now that the small crowd around the table had cleared up. To her the map looked authentic... though she doubted Nami would be easily fooled by a fraudulent map anyway. She voiced this opinion, and Luffy's grin widened.

"That settles it," the captain said as he straightened the straw hat on his head. "Tomorrow, we sail for Libitina!"

! ~ ;3 ~ !

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AHEAD! :'D

lol Luffy got the name right. XDDD First try!

Libitina, the name of the island, is actually the Roman myth name of a goddess of corpses, funerals, and the dead. Her name was synonymous with the word "death." :3

Ah yes, as you might have guessed this is the much-anticipated (note: not) serious fic. :v It wont be all spiffy and happy like my others... but don't worry, there will be some humor. :3 I just can't abide stories that take themselves too seriously.

I'm not sure about a pairing yet... If anything it'd be SanjixZoro, but if it is, it'll be more like subtle hints instead of REALLY OBVIOUS. :v Which means if you don't like the pairing, you can ignore it. XD But the story will focus mostly on those two in later chapters. Just so you know.

So, ahm, important things to know about this story: mild romance (SORTOF), treasure, and Zoro!sick. :v Well, that's the plan anyway.

o_o And as a side note, I had a hard time remembering all the rooms on the Sunny. How do you people do it? I had to stick with rooms I knew... XD Gad.

Well, wish me luck. I'll need it.


	2. Chapter 2

It was getting warmer, Zoro observed almost absently as he turned into the wind. Standing at the bow of the ship he could see the distant shape of an island drawing ever closer. Nami's Libitina, he assumed.

A full day had passed since the navigator had brandished her map and their captain had chosen their path. To the island, to the treasure, Luffy was looking for adventure in this new mystery. Usually Zoro would be behind his decision, but for the past day something had been nagging at the back of the swordsman's mind. A feeling of what, foreboding?

A frown drew Zoro's brows together over eyes narrowed at the dark shape ahead of them. He didn't support Usopp's claims that the island must be haunted or guarded by horrible monsters; that idea was just ridiculous. But something kept people away from the place, and something was certainly wrong enough that it was distracting the swordsman. Whether it was baseless paranoia or a founded warning against the island, he wasn't sure.

"Doesn't it look cool?" came Luffy's excited voice from the swordsman's left and Zoro spared a sideways glance at his captain with a non-comital sound as his only response.

Luffy offered the swordsman a searching look in return, his usual cheer gone from his expression and leaving him looking grim. "Something's wrong." Not a question.

Zoro propped his arms on the rail and looked ahead at the island again. "I'm not sure yet."

Luffy hopped up onto the railing by the swordsman's arms and swung his legs out to let his sandaled feet dangle over the side of the ship and the rushing water far below, clamping a hand over his straw hat against the wind. "You've been acting funny since we left the last port. Something happen?"

_Not yet_, Zoro thought, and then caught himself with another frown. He lifted a hand to gesture vaguely at the approaching island. "Something about this place..." he said, "it gives me a bad feeling." He felt like a fool even saying it, but there it was.

Luffy laughed and rocked back on the railing. "You're starting to sound like Usopp." He grinned at his first mate and Zoro smirked back after a moment.

"Don't worry," Luffy said as he stood up on the railing, his arms raised on either side of him to help him balance. Zoro watched his captain from the corner of his eye, prepared to snag him if he slipped. "I wont tell Sanji you're scared."

Zoro decided he was more inclined to shove Luffy off himself. "_What?!_"

Luffy grinned deviously and hopped off the railing to land neatly on the deck. "Well, I mean, about the island. You being scared of it and all. I didn't think you were the type."

Zoro's left eyebrow was twitching faintly. "You know I'm not scared."

"I dunno," Luffy said, looping his hands behind his own neck. Then he flashed a grin, said a quick, "Ya scaredy cat," and took off running across the lawn. Zoro lunged to grab him, missed, and took off running after his fleeing captain. "Luffy, get back here!"

Robin observed the scene from inside, where she was keeping Nami company as the navigator made enough copies of her Libitina map to give to each of the search parties once they reached the island. She was on the last one, pen moving across paper with quick skill.

Nami's hands were ink-stained and there was a black smudge under her right eye, but she didn't seem to notice, all of her attention focused on her work as she drew the last... line...

"There!" Nami set her quill aside and threw her arms up, happily regarding the newest copy of the old map.

Robin studied the still-wet ink with a smile. "Wonderful, navigator-san."

"Of course," Nami sing-songed as she set weights on each of the map's four corners so it wouldn't roll up on itself and ruin all of her hard work. Then she got to her feet and stretched her arms above her head, working the kinks out of her back.

Robin sipped her lukewarm coffee absently. "Do you think we'll find it?"

Nami blinked at the sudden question and looked over at the other woman. "Huh? Oh, the treasure?" She flashed a quick smile. "I'm always hoping."

Robin returned the smile as she got to her feet and handed a clean cloth to Nami so the navigator could wipe ink from her hands. "Luffy seems excited."

Nami puffed a breath and scrubbed her hands clean – well, as clean as she could - then set the cloth on her work table. "He'd be more excited if the treasure was made of meat instead of gold."

"To each their own," Robin said with an edge of amusement, but then her expression changed and she glanced toward the door again. "Zoro doesn't seem so pleased with the idea of Libitina..."

"Him?" Nami waved a dismissive hand. "He's a stick in the mud. Don't pay any attention to that." She flicked a quick glance to the clock on the wall. "Lunch should be ready soon. Come on, let's get to the galley before Luffy eats everything." She grinned and then headed for the door.

Robin hesitated briefly, her eyes turning to run over the map still covering the table top. With a slight inclination of her head she studied the careful strokes, the criss-crossing lines of drying ink that signified features of the island, and then the neatly-scrawled name at the top of the page; _Libitina._

She caught herself waiting – for what, a bad omen? A premonition of disaster? - and shook her head at herself, then followed Nami from the room.

~ ;3 ~

Luffy let out an excited cheer when his feet hit the sun-warmed sand of Libitina's beach, his arms thrown in the air as if he were greeting the new island.

Usopp refused to step off the ship, having come down with a sudden and violent case of Can't-Leave-The-Thousand-Sunny-To-Visit-A-Scary-Island-Syndrome once they dropped anchor and he caught sight of the place up-close.

Nami had attempted to dislodge the sniper with threats of inflicting Suddendeathitis on him if he didn't get off the damn ship, but he wouldn't budge. Deep down, Nami couldn't blame him; the place was massive and once you got past the white-sand beaches, you hit jungle so thick that sunlight seemed challenged to penetrate it. It _was _a scary-looking place, but Nami had better things to think about. Like how the underbrush was overgrown and would present a problem once they started making their way inland. Everyone would have to overcome that in their own way though.

Zoro stood on the beach as Luffy ran circles around him, chasing Chopper in an impromptu game of tag. The swordsman tried to ignore them as he stared into the jungle. The saying "you couldn't see the forest for the trees" was fitting here, in a literal sense.

"All right!" Nami called in her best leader voice, taking charge of the group. She had all of her maps in a bag slung over her shoulder, waiting to be given out. "Everybody line up!"

Chopper hurried over to the navigator dutifully, but Luffy either didn't hear her or simply didn't listen, instead continuing running laps around Zoro as the swordsman stood there looking mildly annoyed.

Nami seemed about to chuck a rock at Luffy's head, so Zoro sighed and snatched the collar of his captain's vest when Luffy made another pass. Luffy's legs kept going for a few feet, then snapped back to join the rest of him as Zoro dragged him over to the rest of the group.

Nami eyed them both and Zoro cocked a brow at her, folding his arms. The navigator sniffed and persevered; "You have each been given a back pack with enough supplies for you for a whole day. This includes water and food, so don't waste it! We don't know if there will be easily accessible fresh water here."

She scanned the group. "We're going to break up into separate pairs and search the island. We'll cover more ground that way," she declared and drew the bag off her shoulder as she spoke. She pulled one of the long, rolled-up paper tubes from the bag and waved it in the air in front of her nakama like she was trying to get the attention of a herd of young school children. Next to her, Robin tried not to laugh, her shoulders shaking.

"You each get a map," Nami continued, "and I've marked the rough course you should take to cover the most ground without crossing paths and wasting time. The teams will be..." Nami studied everyone in front of her. "Team one, Luffy and me. Team two, Robin and Franky. Team three, Chopper and Brooke and team four is Zoro and Sanji."

Everyone seemed pleased enough, save for the last pair, who immediately groaned in protest. Nami cut off the bitching before it started; "Sanji will keep you from getting lost" - she pointed at Zoro and the swordsman seethed - "and if Sanji went with Robin or me, he wouldn't be able to pay attention to the search." She nodded as if agreeing with her own words.

Sanji, who had initially smirked at the mention of Zoro's less-than-stellar sense of direction, now looked wounded. "Nami-swan, I would do nothing but protect you and Robin-chan from--"

"Exactly my point," Nami said sharply, and bopped the cook on the head with her rolled-up map. "You'd be too distracted."

Sanji simpered and Zoro grinned at him.

"What about Usopp?" Luffy chimed as he looked back toward the ship.

Nami shrugged. "He's guarding the ship." Truthfully he navigator had just run out of ways to try and pry the sniper _off_ the ship.

Luffy looked less than pleased by this. "Why? He's going to miss the whole adventure."

Nami let out a breath and rubbed her forehead. "He's scared of the island, so he doesn't want to come. We need someone to guard the ship, so he can stay here and do that. And anyway, he kept going on and on about how if even _Zoro's_ scared of the island then there must be a good reason for--"

"He said _what?!" _Zoro roared.

The majority of the crew spent the next ten minutes physically restraining Zoro from charging back to the ship and murdering Usopp. The next ten minutes after _that_ were spent watching Zoro chase Luffy around the beach for being a traitor.

Eventually order was restored and Nami was able to pass maps around to the designated teams, and they all dispersed without much more trouble.

Back on the Sunny, Usopp thanked his lucky stars he would never set foot in that jungle.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

Don't worry, the island's not _haunted_ or anything silly like that. XD It's just a dangerous place! I wouldn't vacation there. O-o

And Usopp's on the ship 'cause when I have him, things get too funny. XD I'M SORRY! I enjoy him way too much for a serious story.

:V Stuff will pick up in the next chapter, I promise. But I'm not going to rush it just for the sake of a pairing, or for the sake of making Zoro suffer. XD

Send me lucky vibes for the next chapter! Sorry if you've been too bored so far! :'D


	3. Chapter 3

"There had better not be spiders here," Nami said as her eyes swept over the thick brush around her suspiciously. The plants were so over grown that she couldn't see her feet as she walked, and thus had to move forward with a cautious shuffle. The leaves of different ferns and grasses kept poking under her shirt and tickling her skin and making her think of spiders and other unsavory things. "I hate spiders."

Somewhere above her she heard Luffy laugh at the comment and she glanced up into the trees, trying to spot the rubber man as he swung himself between branches like the monkey of his namesake. "It's not funny!"

Luffy leaned off a tree branch and stretched down to grin at the agitated navigator. "I haven't seen a spider yet, but I'll watch for them."

Strangely comforted, Nami offered a half smile in return and released her death grip on her Clima-Tact, which she had been carrying in case she needed to pummel evil spiders into submission. She set the weapon over her shoulder and shuffled on, careful of roots and vines, lest she trip and introduce her face to the jungle floor.

"Oi, Nami."

The navigator paused and huffed a breath as she turned to look. "What is-- _Pfft!" _She had to clamp a hand over her mouth when she spotted Luffy; he was hanging from a tree branch by one hand, swinging back and forth with his face set in a great impression of a gorilla.

"Would you get down from there!" Nami snapped quickly. "You'll fall or something."

Luffy's response was a thoughtful expression. Then he scratched his armpit.

Nami laughed despite herself.

Satisfied that he had distracted the navigator from any more ideas of spiders, Luffy hopped out of the tree and walked over to stand by the redhead in the waist-high underbrush. "Where are we going?"

Nami dutifully pulled her copy of the map – she had left the original on the ship, of course – from the bag over her shoulder and unrolled it for both of them to examine. "Right now, we're here," she said, pointing to a small patch of criss-crossing lines. Extending up from that point was a thin, bright red line that snaked across half the island. This was the path she had marked for Luffy and herself to explore.

"We have to go really far," Luffy said when he saw their set course. "When do we eat?"

"At the quarter-way mark," Nami said and rolled the map up with a practiced hand before sliding it safely into the bag again. The bag held their food and water, so naturally she was going to carry it; Luffy would eat everything otherwise. "It wont take long if we stick to my course and hurry."

An admittedly poor choice of words.

"Gomu Gomu no Rocket!!" Luffy hooked an arm around the navigator's waist as he flung an arm forward to catch a distant tree, and then they were both sailing through the jungle rapidly. Nami screamed at the tops of her lungs and clamped her arms around Luffy's neck as the captain laughed.

~ ;3 ~

Somewhere else on the island, Chopper's head poked up from the underbrush on the jungle floor and he peered around. "Brooke? Did you just hear something?"

Brooke looked up from where he was tracing the bright blue line on their map and peered over at the doctor, then listened for a moment to see if any strange sound would repeat itself. When none did, he shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"Oh." Chopper looked thoughtful, then his head disappeared below the plant life again. The only sign of his whereabouts was the shuffling of ferns as he moved around.

Brooke stood still, the map held in skeletal hands, and watched Chopper's path as the doctor made a circle around the smell clearing they had walked into. "Have you found anything of interest?"

Chopper's pink hat appeared above the ferns again and he gave a delighted cheer as he held up an odd-looking piece of plant. Brooke rolled the map up and tucked it under his arm as he headed over to see what Chopper had found.

"_Tanacetum parthenium, _or Feverfew," Chopper said as he waved the small white flower around.

Brooke took the flower and eyed it with interest (though he didn't have eyes). It looked like a daisy. "What's it for?"

Chopper ducked down again to dig the small plant out of the ground and wrap the roots - still covered in dirt - in a napkin from his small backpack before replying, "For reducing fever, and treating headaches." He set the plant in the outside pocket of his pack so it wouldn't get squished, then grabbed his canteen to take a drink.

Brooke straightened up and looped his cane over his arm. "Yohoho, a very interesting-- Er..."

Chopper looked up with a confused expression. "What?"

Brooke pointed at Chopper's hat and the reindeer frowned and looked up at the brim over his forehead. Had he ripped it?

Two small black eyes stared back at him from a scaly head peeking over the brim. A snake, about the length of Brooke's arm and bright red, had dropped out of a tree and right onto Chopper's head.

The snake stared at them. Brooke and Chopper stared at the snake. The snake adjusted its jaw and flashed insanely long fangs and a small drop of liquid fell from one fang to hit a fern leaf with a soft _plip!_

The leaf started sizzling and a hole burned right through it.

Chopper screamed, and then Brooke screamed, and they both took off so fast that the snake was left spinning in the air briefly before falling back into the underbrush.

~ ;3 ~

Franky nudged his sunglasses up as he knocked small branches out of his path, cutting through the jungle. He was in the lead, and Robin held the map and gave directions. They were making great time.

"A slight left just ahead," Robin murmured as she scanned the paper she held. They were following a purple line toward the south coast of the island, and they were nearly at the quarter-way mark already.

"Right." Franky's reply was nearly lost in the sound of a branch being snapped off and tossed aside to clear the way.

Robin nearly walked into the shipwright's back when she failed to notice him stop walking. "Franky..?" She frowned faintly and waited for a response, mild concern entering her voice when there was no reply. "Are you-- Oh."

Franky simply stepped to the side so the archaeologist could see what had so startled him, and Robin could only stare for a moment. In the sunlit clearing just ahead of them was a small village. The houses, build of stone with wood-shingled roofs, were over grown with vines, and the cobbled paths between the structures were almost completely obscured by creeping plants. Small birds darted between the houses and chirped quietly.

Both pirates regarded the village with mild shock before collecting themselves, and Franky stepped out of the trees to place a foot on the cobbled path, as if checking if it was real. "Do you... think anyone lives here?"

"Not for a long time," Robin breathed as she too moved into the clearing. She carefully followed the stone path into the village, dark eyes searching the houses. Some stood with doors and windows open, and their interiors were as plant-covered as their outer walls, but despite this she could still tell that they held furniture and belongings of whoever had lived there.

Franky edged further into the village as well and hesitantly walked up to one of the open doors to peer inside, hands braced on the door frame. Vines and grass and general grime obscured details of the walls and items in the house, and the scene was eerie enough that it almost gave the shipwright chills. It was like whoever lived here had just vanished some time ago...

A ball of bright blue feathers hit him square in the face and he shouted as he stumbled backwards. He ended up on his butt in the street, blinking at the dazed bird now fluttering away from the scene.

Robin laughed behind her hand as Franky righted himself. "Are you all right?"

"Super," Franky said, hoping to get off the subject. "Er... what do you think happened here?"

Robin adjusted the strap of her backpack and gave the small village another sweeping glance. "I'm not sure," she admitted as she pulled the map out again and unrolled it. The general area where they stood was just marked as a clearing, not a village. Odd.

Robin rolled the map up again and tucked it away in her bag. "Let's have our lunch here, and investigate a bit before moving on. This place may hold clues that will aid us in finding the treasure."

~ ;3 ~

A short time later, once lunch was over and a sweep of the village had been conducted to check for any signs of danger, Robin and Franky split up to search each house for clues. The ones standing open went first, but all they seemed to contain were the general items one usually found in a home. Being inside of the buildings proved that they weren't very old, seventy years tops, which seemed to match with the story that no one had been to Libitina for a few decades.

Robin approached one of the houses that was shut tight against the elements, doors and shutters battered but sturdy. She brushed her fingers over a patch of wall not covered in vines, feeling the old paint on the rough surface. It flaked off under her wandering hand and she moved on to the door.

The door latch turned with some effort due to corrosion and Robin gave a tug, but the door refused to budge. It seemed stuck fast, as even when she used twelve arms to attempt to pry it open she made no progress. She was just about to retrieve one of the shovels leaning against the outside of the house to use as a pry bar when Franky wandered over. He looked at Robin, and she gestured to the door.

A moment later and Franky had pried the door off its hinges and set it aside against the wall. Robin smiled, thanked him, and walked into the house to open the shutters and let some light in.

"Where do we start?" Franky asked as he looked around the interior of the house. It consisted of one large room which served as the main living space, and a smaller one, which Franky guessed was the bedroom. He wouldn't call it "primitive" but it was far from modern. And despite its age, the place was in near perfect condition, left untouched for nearly a century.

"Look for books," Robin said, "papers. Notes or ledgers; maybe we can find out what happened to the people who lived here."

Franky nodded, and then they both took half of the small house and started digging.

Half an hour later and the pair was sitting in the floor of the main room surrounded by old leather-bound books, charts and papers yellowed with age. Interesting volumes – books that Robin took a particular liking to - were set aside in their own stack while useless pieces, such as outdated maps or personal papers, were placed in the reject pile. Each was painstakingly checked over for clues about the treasure's whereabouts or what had happened to the villagers.

As Franky tossed another stack of papers on the reject pile he let out a frustrated breath. "I'm not finding anything."

Robin didn't look up from where she was leafing through a worn leather journal. "We're nearly done. If you like, you can step outside for some air?" the archaeologist offered. The shipwright wasn't used to this sort of work, but Robin was, so the tedium didn't bother her as much.

Franky sighed and stretched his arms, then picked up another stack of old charts to look through.

Robin smiled faintly and then looked down at the book laying open on her lap. There was silence for a few minutes, broken only by the occasional rustle of papers or short question about the relevance of some article. Finally Franky lifted a page and eyed it with a half frown. "Look at this."

Robin looked up as the shipwright held the page out to her, and she accepted it carefully. The paper was brittle with age, and Robin set it on the floor delicately. After a moment she realized it was a map... and a very familiar map at that.

"Looks like Nami's," Franky commented as he leaned over the page. There were slight variations, but there was no question that this map was the same as the one the navigator had lifted in the port town.

"But see? The name's different." He tapped the top of the page and Robin nodded. Where Nami's map read _Libitina,_ this map had a different title; "Rosen?" Robin frowned.

Franky shrugged. "This one looks older, doesn't it? Maybe they changed the name sometime after it was made." His frown deepened. "But why change the name of an island?"

"Maybe as a warning," Robin murmured, and then rolled the map up carefully to place in her back pack with their newer copy for further inspection later. It was interesting, but they wouldn't learn anything by staring at it. So, taking her mind off the odd map for the moment, she tipped her head down and started flipping through the pages of the book again.

One of the pages had a faded sketch and Robin paused to examine it, then read the neat scrawl of handwriting on either side of the image. "I think I may have found something."

"Huh?" Franky looked up, and then set aside the papers he held to move over to Robin's side and peer at the book she was reading. It looked like someone's personal diary. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure yet, but look," Robin indicated the illustration on the page and Franky studied it quizzically. It was a sketch of a plant, a huge bulb shaped much like a tulip with vines spilling out from the top. Notations were scribbled along the side of the page about color and size; apparently it was dark green and the vines were tinged with red, like dried blood.

Franky sat back and folded his arms. "Why's that important? It's just someone's garden journal."

Robin made an amused sound at the comment and turned back to the book. "It says here that the plant stood as high as five men and employed a deadly poison... and also that it was carnivorous."

"Er... how _carnivorous?_" Franky asked, though he had an idea of where this was going.

"At the time this was written, the plant had already claimed a number of human lives," Robin replied quietly. "The entries stop shortly after this."

Franky grimaced. "Super. That explains what happened to the villagers. You think that thing could still be around?"

Robin drew a finger over the illustration of the beastly plant and said simply, "I don't know."

~ ;3 ~

Sanji was miserable. No, scratch that – he was hot, tired _and _miserable, slogging through a jungle with Zoro in tow. And to make things _better,_ he had to play human leash to keep the marimo from getting himself lost.

"For Nami," Sanji muttered to himself. "For Nami, for Nami..."

Zoro snorted, and Sanji's rather tenuous hold on his self-control slipped another inch. "What was that?"

Zoro cocked a brow at the blond. "I didn't say anything."

Sanji's eyes narrowed and he stopped walking to glare at the swordsman. "Don't you start. This whole day would be a lot less miserable if you would just use those damn swords of yours to clear us a path."

Now it was Zoro's turn to narrow his eyes. "I've already told you--"

"These swords aren't for trimming hedges," Sanji parroted in a mocking voice before Zoro got the chance to say anything. The blond made a frustrated sound kept walking. "Shitty... damn... jungle."

Zoro glared at the back of Sanji's head and followed reluctantly. Abruptly Sanji let out a relieved breath and quickened his pace. "Finally."

Zoro looked ahead in confusion and stiffened. Between a few trees straight ahead was a clearing about fifteen feet across and thirty feet long, though it didn't seem entirely natural; the ground cover was flattened all in the same direction, like something had been dragged across it.

Suspicion, or maybe paranoia, crawled up Zoro's spine and he lunged forward to catch Sanji's arm before the blond reached the clearing. This earned a curse and Sanji shook the hand off his arm. "What?"

"Something's wrong," Zoro said, voice low as he scanned the clearing. Nothing moved, not even plants rustling in the light wind that managed to gust through the jungle.

Sanji's expression shifted to a dark glare. "You've been acting like this all damn day, and _nothing_ has happened yet." Zoro gave him an odd expression and Sanji snapped again, "You are the only one who had that _bad feeling_. No one else!"

"Of course you wouldn't," Zoro said, finally having enough. "You were too busy swooning over Nami to realize this island is--"

"What?!" Sanji roared. "Haunted? Are there monsters hiding in the trees?"

Zoro's shoulders stiffened and he shifted a hand to his swords. "You want a fight, curly-brow?"

Sanji didn't bother responding. In the next instant the resounding sound of a boot meeting metal echoed through the clearing, followed by Sanji skidding backward into the open and Zoro lunging after him with two swords already drawn.

Sanji got his footing and launched into a lightning-fast spinning kick that had the swordsman on the defensive again, then had to jump backward to avoid a series of rapid slashes when Zoro retaliated. The swordsman had lined up another attack when something distracted him. A quiet sound, almost imperceptible in the jungle noise, like foliage being raked across the ground.

A black blur connected with his side and Zoro could only grunt as he was sent flying backward to crash into a wall of plant life. He regained his feet, back to the plant, and took a breath to get his bearings.

Sanji just scoffed and dug his cigarettes out of his pocket. He pulled one if the sticks free, set it between his lips and lit it before looking to the swordsman again.

"Something _must_ be bothering you," Sanji said acidly, "you're fighting like shit."

Zoro snarled as the cook turned away to find their path again, but any rebuttal he might have tossed back died in his throat. The wall of plant he still leaned against gave a slight shift backward and killed his balance, and something plunged into his right shoulder, a spike of searing pain.

For a moment he was stunned, but he quickly regained his senses and jerked away from the plant, nearly dropping Shuusui in the process. His arm was going numb, spreading outward from the stab wound which continued to burn like hell. He sheathed the sword rather than dropping it and turned to see what he was fighting.

All he saw was that wall of dark green - a giant leaf and a few rust-colored vines draping over it. One of those vines, a narrow one about an inch in diameter with a sharp barb on the end, was dripping with fresh blood.

Zoro inched backward as he stared at the vines. They weren't moving, but there was no denying what had just happened; the thing had stabbed him. The _plant _had stabbed him.

Zoro swallowed, keeping his eyes on the plant. He was starting to feel dizzy.

"Dartboard," he said over his shoulder, reluctant to shift his gaze from the plant. Sanji didn't immediately respond, so Zoro tried again, glancing briefly over his shoulder to see where the hell the blond had gone.

He didn't see Sanji, but he _did_ see the creeping vine that had slunk around behind him while he was watching the body of the plant. It struck out in a reddish blur and Zoro sliced it cleanly down the middle.

The vine hit the ground and writhed like a dying snake before going still, oozing a thick black liquid that carried an acrid smell. It was, quite possibly, the freakiest thing Zoro had ever seen.

Sadly he wasn't granted much time to contemplate this as in the next moment he was having to fend off more strikes. They seemed to be getting faster, more difficult to dodge or block. Or was it that he was getting slower?

Fatigue was creeping up on him much more quickly than it should and between that and the icy numbness in his right arm, he came to the unsettling conclusion that he was poisoned. How severely he wasn't sure, but as it was it seemed to be getting worse and cutting through the vines wasn't making any headway; every time one dropped, a new group would crawl out of the woodwork to take its place.

One of the vines lashed out and curled around Sandai Kitetsu's blade, and Zoro gave it a jerk to slice the plant and free his sword. The abrupt movement threw his balance and his head spun at the same moment exhaustion hit him like a train, sending him to his knees.

That was the only opening required for one of those vines to strike out and plunge into his left leg. Poison burned in a wave as it spread from the wound, and Zoro saw black.

He was unconscious before he even hit the clearing floor.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

… My stories are _so weird._ XDDD I hope this wasn't _too_ out-there. This was actually the plan from the start.

:\ Were the character interactions okay here?

Oh, and after the trouble I had in the first chapter trying to remember the layout of the Thousand Sunny, the amazingly awesome Lolo Popoki provided me with blueprints of the ship which are invaluable. Thanks a million times! X3 I'll never get lost in the ship (in my head) again. XD

P.S. Long chapter is long. o^o


	4. Chapter 4

The constant hum of jungle noise was starting to drive Sanji a little bit crazy. Between the shrieking of birds and the varied sounds of thousands of insects hidden in the trees around him he couldn't seem to isolate a thought and concentrate on it.

Sanji ground his teeth when a bird started chirping its head off in the tree above him and cursed when the action had him biting into his cigarette. He snatched it from his mouth and stubbed it out viciously against the bark of the nearest tree, then yanked the map out of his pack and unrolled it. He had to take a few calming breaths before he could focus on the parchment.

Mm... maybe a little off course, he decided. Probably because of the fight back at the clearing. They had been walking a line that kept them near a small river most of the way and Sanji hadn't noticed losing sight of it, most likely because he had been so pissed.

"Marimo, we have to back-track and head more east." He waited for a snarky comment and when none came he frowned and looked over his shoulder.

No Zoro. Sanji stared at the empty space where the swordsman _should_ have been standing.

Where the hell was he? Had the idiot gotten himself lost?

Sanji more crumpled the map than rolled it up, then stuffed it back into his bag as he turned to stomp back the way he had come, muttering curses under his breath the whole way.

After fighting his way back through the clinging underbrush and to the clearing again he expected to either find Zoro waiting for him, or have to go searching for the swordsman because he had wandered off somewhere. What Sanji _didn't_ expect was what he actually found; Zoro laying unmoving in the middle of the clearing.

For a moment Sanji was at a complete loss - he could only stand and stare at the still form a few yards ahead of him. Then he found himself walking forward maybe a bit too quickly.

"What're you doing, shit swordsman? Napping? Get up, I didn't hit you that hard." Mostly he was talking to distract himself from his mounting dread, but a response from the swordsman would have helped. He didn't get one.

Sanji reached Zoro's side and knelt down to give his shoulders a shake. "Hey--" He stopped and blinked, then looked to where his hand rested on Zoro's shoulder. The material felt... wet? He lifted his hand with a confused expression and was stunned to see his fingers stained with dark blood. The black material had hidden the blood stain and he hadn't been able to see it before, but now as he looked closer he could see small rips in Zoro's shirt where something – Sanji had no idea what – had stabbed him.

But the wounds were tiny, insignificant little punctures that were barely bleeding. Why wasn't he moving?

Sanji turned the other man over and held his blood-free hand infront of Zoro's face. His panic was eased slightly when he realized the swordsman was breathing, but that didn't help clear up his confusion. What the hell had happened in the few minutes he had been gone?

Sanji nearly face-planted when the swordsman was yanked away from him abruptly, but he cursed and caught himself. Without any idea what had just happened he scrambled forward and grabbed Zoro's arm, then had to dig his heels into the ground to fight against another violent yank that threatened to dislocate Zoro's shoulder, or cause Sanji to lose his grip.

At this angle Sanji could see what was dragging them along: there was a dark, rusty-colored vine curled around the swordsman's ankle, pulling with an insane amount of force as it tried to jerk the unconscious man out of Sanji's grip.

Sanji's jaw dropped. It was a fucking _plant?! _What kind of island was this?!

Eyes narrowing to determined slits, Sanji gave a hard pull on Zoro's arm, using his legs to shove himself backward. "Now would be a great time for you to wake up, marimo!" he ground out through his teeth, then barked a curse when another vine joined the first one and jerked hard enough that Sanji was nearly sent sprawling.

From the corner of his eye Sanji spotted the backpack Zoro had dropped in their earlier fight being dragged across the flattened grass by one of the vines. He watched as the vine hauled the backpack across the clearing and to the huge plant that spawned them, some monstrous thing that looked like a giant green tulip. The pack was tossed into the air and it fell out of sight into the open top of the huge plant.

Sanji's left eye twitched when a grinding, crunching sound was emitted from the plant as it chewed the bag and all of its contents up. He redoubled his efforts to pull Zoro free, but no matter how hard he tried, the vines seemed stronger. He found himself slowly skidding forward, his heels leaving tracks in the dirt as the vines started to win their game of tug-o-war. He was losing his grip on Zoro's arm.

Dammit. Like hell he was going to end up as plant food! "Zoro!"

Finally the swordsman's head rolled back and his eyes opened slightly to find Sanji's face. His brows drew together in confusion, like he couldn't quite focus. "Nn..?"

"Hi, welcome back. We're both about to be eaten by a _plant_. You want to do something about that?" Sanji said rapidly as they were dragged a few feet closer to the thing that had just made a snack of Zoro's backpack.

Even if he wasn't all there, Zoro seemed to get the point. His hand tightened around the hilt of the sword he still held and he yanked on his captive leg at the same time as he slashed downward. The vines snapped, cut clean through, and Zoro and Sanji both fell backward at the loss of tension. Sanji recovered quickly and scrambled to his feet, hauling Zoro up with him and making a break for the tree line.

The vines that raced after them reached the end of their range and snapped to a stop, flailing futilely as the two pirates disappeared into the jungle.

~ ;3 ~

Sanji only stopped running when it got too hard to move both himself and Zoro through the underbrush. It didn't help that the swordsman couldn't seem to get his feet under him at that pace and ended up being partially dragged the entire way.

Finally Zoro made a disgruntled sound and shoved at the arm Sanji had locked around his torso, trying to dislodge it. "Get off, I can walk-"

Sanji stumbled to a stop and quickly looked around, trying to catch his breath. They were standing between a few particularly large trees on a patch of ground free of the thick underbrush.

Sanji turned a scowl on Zoro and released him, only to have the swordsman nearly crash to the ground again. He caught himself against a tree rather than hitting the dirt.

"What the hell happened back there?" Sanji snapped, waving a hand in the direction they had come from.

Zoro leaned heavily against the tree and gave Sanji a look. "A plant tried to eat us."

Sanji scowled and dug his cigarettes out again, lighting one a little too jerkily. He was going to go through the whole pack before evening at this rate.

He took a breath and exhaled a cloud of smoke slowly. Okay, so they had just been attacked by a plant. Weirder things had happened to them, this island was nothing special.

A thought struck Sanji as he was shoving his cigarettes back into his jacket pocket. "You think there are more of those things?"

Zoro shifted against the tree uncomfortably, but then he laid a hand against his injured shoulder and Sanji chalked it up to discomfort from the wounds. "Not sure."

"We have to get back to the Sunny, get Usopp to send up a signal," Sanji decided as he scanned the jungle around them. He could see the small river through the trees, so they would retrace their steps and cut a wide berth around that plant. Maybe then they could--

Sanji's thoughts were cut off when Zoro made a startled sound behind him. Sanji turned in time to see the swordsman go to his knees and scramble away from the tree he had been resting against, clawing at his right arm, which was quickly being covered with thready little ivy-like vines.

Sanji snapped a curse and dropped his cigarette as he hurried to his knees next to the swordsman and started yanking the plants off. He couldn't tell where they were coming from – they weren't anywhere but on Zoro – but they were growing at a startling rate. Zoro was on his back now and Sanji could see more of the vines on his injured leg.

Zoro's head dropped back and a drawn sound of agony escaped him, and Sanji finally saw where the vines were coming from; they were crawling out of the stab wounds left by the huge plant back in the clearing.

Sanji suppressed a gag and grabbed Zoro's wrists, forcing them down against his sides. He was both thankful for, and worried by, the swordsman's weakened state, but at least he could restrain him and deal with this.

He moved to straddle Zoro's stomach and pin his arms with his knees, freeing up his hands to grip the base of the plant sprouting from Zoro's right shoulder. He took a bracing breath, and then pulled as hard as he could. Zoro gave a strangled cry and arched off the ground, but Sanji tried his best to ignore it.

The plant was giving, and soon hair-thin roots started pulling free of Zoro's shoulder with a sickening wet sound. Sanji tried not to think about how long they were, or how many there were, or how they were all covered in gore and some acrid-smelling black gunk and instead focused on wrenching the last of them out. Once the plant jerked free, Sanji threw it on the ground a few feet away and it writhed unnaturally.

By the time Sanji managed to pry the second plant out of Zoro's leg, the swordsman had fallen silent and he wasn't struggling anymore. His eyes were unfocused and he was shaking uncontrollably, but he wasn't trying to move. Sanji wasn't sure if he _could._

Movement drew the blond's attention to the mass of shredded vines which still lay in a pile on the leaf litter, twisting and curling as if it were trying to figure out how to crawl away.

Sanji's eyes narrowed into slits and he got to his feet, reaching into his jacket pocket as he did. He was intent on the plants and their writhing slowed as if they were aware of the blond's mood when he knelt next to them. They didn't have eyes, or any features to distinguish them from regular ivy, but somehow Sanji got the feeling they were watching him, waiting for his next move.

"You're freaky little things, you know that?" Sanji commented idly as he retrieved a cigarette to replace the one he'd dropped when this mess started. "Not very bright either, apparently," he mused, and the plants stilled entirely as he lit his cigarette and slid the pack back into his pocket. "Because you did two things to piss me off. One--" he exhaled a cloud of smoke over the plants and the green mass shuddered "-- you made me waste a cigarette. A bad move on your part. And two..." Now Sanji lifted the lighter he still held and his expression turned dark, "... you hurt my nakama. A _very_ bad move."

The lighter came to life with a click and a _whoosh, _and the tangle of vines at Sanji's feet flailed and twisted and tried to coordinate an escape, but one touch of the flame and the entire mass lit up brilliantly.

Sanji sniffed in disgust and turned his back to them as they burned.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

Woo, I'm banging these out, huh? XD

:V No real plot development here. XD But you got an idea of some of the other critters that'll show up... ;3 You didn't think there was only _one_ beastie, didja? ;D

-flails away-


	5. Chapter 5

The first life claimed during the Straw Hat's stay on Libitina was that of Zoro's black t-shirt, and it died by friendly fire. It had been ruined by the plant attacks, but Sanji delivered the deathblow when he tore it into strips to use as improvised bandages. The wounds Zoro sustained from the vines initially were superficial, but after the ivy incident those small punctures had been shredded and made a lot worse.

Sanji worked methodically to bind the wounds, sitting on the jungle floor with Zoro leaning back against his chest, head resting on Sanji's shoulder so he didn't have to keep sitting the swordsman up. Zoro had recovered from his shaking fit, which relieved Sanji to no end, but he hadn't woken up yet and it was starting to worry the blond. How bad did the plant's poison have to be to keep _Zoro_ down?

Still, Sanji worked carefully to bind the swordsman's injured leg – he just wrapped the bandages tightly over Zoro's pants after an awkward debate about removing them – and then his shoulder. He could see red streaks under the skin where the roots of the ivy-plant had spread out from the wound, and pretty soon it would start bruising. It'd start to look pretty terrible soon and--

"Your nakama, huh?" Sanji about jumped out of his skin when Zoro spoke, his voice a gravelly rasp. "Pretty defensive there, curly-brow."

Sanji scowled faintly at half-smile Zoro wore and started wrapping his shoulder again. "Shut up and be grateful I was here to save your ass, marimo," he said harshly.

Zoro gave a short laugh and ended up coughing, and Sanji quickly tied the makeshift bandages off, gave them a brief check to be sure they were secure, then eyed the green head on his shoulder. Zoro's eyes were shut and he was breathing slowly, like he was concentrating on his breaths. Sanji watched this for a moment and then plastered a hand against the swordsman's forehead.

Zoro response was, of course, to curse and try to jerk his head away. "What're you doing, dartboard?"

Sanji's visible eye rolled. "You got poisoned, you look like shit and you can't stand up--"

"Yes I can," Zoro lied.

"-- So I'm checking if you've got a fever." Not that he had to work hard to find out; Zoro was like a space heater against his chest and his forehead was was uncomfortably warm.

Sanji regarded him with a frown and Zoro's eyes, underscored by dark rings, narrowed at him as the blond dropped his hand. "And of course you _do_. How the hell do you always manage to get the shit kicked out of you no matter where we go?"

Zoro muttered a "shut it" and then stifled a groan when Sanji sat him forward to get to his feet. The swordsman then found himself eased back to the ground to lie flat, and he decided not to complain because laying down made his head spin less. Plus he was pretty damn tired, but he wasn't going to tell Sanji that.

Sanji grabbed his backpack off the ground where he'd left it and dug the map out to examine again. It had taken them half the day to get this far, so if his best guess was right it would be well past dark before they could make it back to the Thousand Sunny. Maybe if they were both in good health they could get back before the sun set completely, but not with Zoro in his current condition.

Sanji sighed and rolled the map up. "We're not gonna be able to make it back to the ship today, and I'm not hauling your ass through this jungle at night." Silence met the comment and Sanji glanced over at the swordsman.

Zoro's eyes were closed again, and Sanji realized he'd already fallen asleep. With a hiss of breath, Sanji put the map back in his bag and then started debating his next move.

~ ;3 ~

At the same time, across the island, Nami and Luffy were still picking their way through the jungle.

The search was starting to seem a little pointless, since the only thing they had found so far were more _trees_, but Nami refused to give up hope. They still had half a day of light left and she swore that by the end of it she would have a suitable prize to take back to the Sunny with her.

With renewed energy, Nami slung her backpack over one shoulder and marched on. Well, shuffled on. She hadn't seen a break in the underbrush all day.

Nearby, Luffy surveyed the jungle from his vantage point high in a tree. One hand over his eyes to shield them from sun that didn't even make it past the canopy, he _hmmm_'d and looked in all directions.

All he could see were leaves, but it was the thought that counted.

"See anything?" Nami called up from the jungle floor, hand cupped by her mouth. She could pick Luffy's form out of the branches above mostly because of his bright red vest against all that green.

"Not yet," Luffy yelled back, tapping a sandaled foot on the rough tree branch he stood on. "I'm gonna go look over here!" He hopped off the tree branch and swung his way over to another one.

"Don't go too far!" Nami called after him, and he waved a hand to show he heard her before swinging out of sight. Nami shifted her pack and headed for some slightly shorter underbrush to continue her own search.

Trees, bushes, more trees, ferns, spider – _run away – _trees, and more trees. Nami was starting to get disheartened from the monotonous landscape when she finally came upon a change of scenery; a small clearing, lit with filtered sunlight that reflected off a little pond in the center. It was fed by a narrow stream and surrounded by pretty, brightly-colored wild flowers and grasses. Large lily pads floated on the pond's surface, sporting their own soft white blooms.

Nami gaped at the unexpected and beautiful scene for a moment, then bit her lower lip and hurried out of the suffocating underbrush to run over to the pond. Brief flashes of color between the lily pads showed that the pond sported a population of small, bright fish, and once Nami was closer to the water she saw little butterflies fluttering around the flowers.

She allowed herself one moment of girly bliss to just appreciate the scene, then she knelt down and splashed cool water over her face and arms to rinse off the grime accumulated over the course of the day. While she was there the tugged her canteen out of her bag and refilled it with fresh water, then replaced it and grabbed her map and a pen from her pack to mark the clearing's location.

Something moved in her peripheral, and for a moment she shrugged it off as the wild flower plants swaying in the breeze. But then she realized there _was no breeze, _and her head whipped toward the movement.

Rising out of the plants that surrounded the pond was... another plant. Or was it an animal? It looked like a plant, its head shaped like a snap-dragon in shades of green and white with a leafy frill around a long neck, but it moved like an animal, rising up on two wooden back legs to reach about the height of Nami's waist and flexing tiny arms that seemed to be built of many little vines. Its body was long and narrow, covered with green leaves that laid like scales, and it tapered off to a thick vine for a tail. Really it was lovely, in an elegant and freaky sort of way.

Then its mouth swung open to reveal many rows of sharp little teeth and it released an ear-splitting cry.

Nami screamed and cracked it over the head with her Clima-Tact.

It had not been expecting that. Its shriek ended abruptly with a sound along the lines of "_glllk_" and it dropped like a stone, twitching.

A moment of silence stretched as Nami stared at the creature with wide eyes and no idea what to do next. Then she grabbed her bag and canteen and ran back the way she had come, leaving the clearing behind rapidly. "LUFFY!"

! ~ ;3 ~ !

o_o Writing a serious story is hard when you can't get the image of ZORO VS. SANJI DANCEFIGHT GO! out of your head (Do. Not. Ask.)

XD Nami got a scene pretty much to herself in this chapter, and I love how it turned out. All the Straw Hats are going to get introduced to the plant!critters in due time, don't you worry.  
Agh, this story if fun to write. XD I'm focusing all of my attention on it right now, which is why chapters are just flying up.  
Thanks so much to everyone that reviews/watches this story x3 And especially to those of you who added me to your Favorite Authors list! SRSLY ILU GUYS! 8DDD

Oh, and I told JessAngel249 that this chapter was going up tomorrow morning. XD I liiieeed. I didn't mean to though! I finished this way faster than I thought I would! XD

P.S. I bet Zoro and Sanji would breakdance. Ohyes.


	6. Chapter 6

Nami didn't bother minding her step as she ran back through the jungle. She tripped a few times, feet catching roots or other debris, but she kept her feet and continued running.

"Luffy?" She scanned the trees, panting as she ran back to the last place she had seen her captain. "Luffy, where are-- _EEK!_"

Luffy, who had dropped out of a tree to land a few feet ahead of Nami, tilted his head and gave the navigator a searching look. "Something wrong?"

Nami was clutching her chest as if she expected to have a heart attack. "You just-- Don't-- You-- Don't _do_ that!" She gasped a breath and tried to gather her thoughts well enough to form a coherent sentence, pointing frantically back in the direction she had run from. "This weird thing just--"

"Wait till you see what I found," Luffy cut her off excitedly, like he just couldn't contain himself long enough for Nami to finish speaking. He lifted his hand in front of Nami's face, palm-up, and it took the navigator a moment to realize what she was now staring at.

Resting in Luffy's palm was what appeared to be a freshly-plucked white orchid, but as Nami focused she realized there was something strange about it; The delicate petals were shifting as if caught in a breeze and as she watched, the flower turned itself over and the petals fell more like a skirt. What looked like the stem was actually a lightly-curved structure that Nami only realized was a face when two tiny black eyes, slanted and oval-shaped, opened to peer up at her. It didn't seem to have a mouth, but it did have two hair-thin appendages on either side of its petal-body that must have been its arms.

Nami stared at the thing open-mouthed until Luffy laughed. "Isn't it cool? I'm gonna call it Flower."

The navigator blinked at his grinning face, struck dumb. The little flower-creature was doing some sort of graceful, swishy dance on his outstretched palm, looking like a four-inch-tall ballroom dancer.

"Mine... tried to eat me," Nami said, sounding dazed.

"Eh?" Luffy gave her a funny look. "What're you talking about?"

Nami gave herself a mental shake and her expression turned more serious. "Zoro was right."

"About what?" Luffy was looking more confused by the minute, so Nami caught his free arm and started dragging him back toward the pond and the creature she had clobbered with her Clima-Tact.

"I'll show you."

~ ;3 ~

"It's a mystery creature," Luffy declared a few minutes later as the two pirates stood in Nami's lovely clearing. He was poking the felled plant-monster with a stick, and atop his straw-hatted head the little flower – Flower – was swishing in a way that seemed to mean it agreed, even though that made no _sense._

Nami dragged a hand through her hair and paced behind Luffy, trying to get her head around this situation. She could admit that Zoro had been right about the island being strange, but this was beyond her. _Plant _monsters? Plants weren't supposed to be able to move around like that, let alone attack people!

She was at a complete loss. One half of her was saying that they needed to hurry back to the Sunny and have Usopp send up an emergency signal to get the rest of the crew off the island, but the other half of her was crying "_what about the treasure?"_

Nami made a frustrated sound and stopped her pacing, finger-combing her hair back into place. Luffy had finally stopped prodding the beast that lay by the pond and now regarded the navigator expectantly. He didn't say anything, but after a moment Nami dropped her arms and sighed.

"I don't know what to do," Nami said in frustration.

"You want to keep looking for the treasure?"

"Agh. I know we should go back, but--" She frowned, only just then realizing he had said that as a question, and really it sounded like an invitation. "Wait, what?"

Luffy laughed and repeated, "You want to keep looking for the treasure?"

Nami stared at him. "You mean you don't want to head back to the ship?"

Luffy looped his hands behind his neck, the movement briefly jarring Flower, who was still swishing on his hat. "I'm not worried. There's no way some plants are gonna be able to hurt our nakama."

He sounded totally sure of that, and after a moment Nami had to agree. She flashed a quick smile and nodded. "Right, then we'll stick to the plan and find the treasure."

Luffy grinned his approval and led the way back to the tree line, leaving any thoughts of giving up back in the lovely clearing with the dead plant monster.

~ ;3 ~

A few hours till dark yet, Robin mused as she followed Franky across a field and enjoyed a light sea breeze gusting off the waters at the other end of the grassy expanse. The field was maybe a hundred yards square, framed by the jungle on three sides with the far end fading to the white sands of another beach. The area was sparsely dotted with tall, thin-limbed trees covered in dark foliage and many closed flower buds.

Robin was mildly disappointed by their failure to find any sign of the treasure, but they had learned quite a bit about the island itself, and the people who used to live there. That was a good enough prize, as was this beautiful view.

They stopped walking when they reached the sandy shore, looking out across the ocean. Franky was the first one to speak as he set a hand on his hip and adjusted the strap of the bag he carried, the one filled with Robin's books. "So that's it?"

"That's it," Robin agreed with a tilt of her head, watching waves roll over the sand a few feet ahead of her.

Franky gave a low whistle and then smiled. Time to head back.

As they both turned away from the ocean and started the return trip across the field, Robin said thoughtfully, "I wonder if any of the others faired better than us?"

Franky looked skyward thoughtfully, eyeing the clouds slowly rolling overhead. "Bet they did. Nami can sniff out gold from miles away." He grinned over at Robin and the archaeologist laughed quietly.

"Besides, today wasn't a total loss; you got your books, and we didn't even get attacked by man-eating plants," Franky added, and Robin was about to voice a dry "don't jinx us" when the wind kicked up and something fluttered past her face. She blinked as if startled and then realized it was just a reddish flower petal. But that was still strange, she thought with a faint frown, since she hadn't seen any flowers anywhere in the field...

Both pirates came to a stop a moment later when more petals were tossed around them, spinning in the air and rolling across the grass, little fluttering dots of red dancing in the wind. Somehow they seemed to stay in a group, all spiraling around each other as they twisted in an almost choreographed pattern before the pirates.

It was beautiful, and baffling. Robin cautiously lifted a hand as one of the petals drifted by, and it fluttered over her palm before settling there delicately. Blood red in color and soft as silk, it seemed just an ordinary flower petal. But they moved almost like living things...

"Robin, look." Franky sounded a bit urgent and Robin looked up quickly. Ahead of them the swirling cloud of petals had started moving faster, working into a tight spiral. The one Robin was holding flew out of her hand and into the grouping and the archaeologist took a half step back, eyes fixed on the unnatural display warily.

The first strike was so quick that Robin didn't even see it. There was a flash of red, and then it was gone, and she flinched back and lifted a hand to her cheek. Her fingertips came away bloody.

"Robin!"

She snapped back to attention and lifted her arms as a rush of red petals flew at her. She created a wall of spare limbs against the onslaught, since there was no other way she could think of to stop the hundreds of tiny blades, and had to clench her teeth against the sting of the innumerable tiny cuts inflicted on her arms.

Next to her she heard Franky curse, and then gunfire. The petals stopped charging, but Franky's gun-arm proved ineffective as the many targets could just dance out of the way. He barely managed to obliterate a handful.

Robin tried a different tact and sprouted many arms, attempting instead to just grab the petals from the air and stop their movement entirely, but they easily slipped out of her grasp.

Both pirates were getting covered in shallow cuts, which on their own were nothing but an annoyance, but when more and more stacked up they would start bleeding profusely. Something had to be done before that happened.

Robin flinched as a red blur nicked the side of her neck, and she quickly retreated a few steps. The petals just chased after her and she found herself on the defensive yet again, receiving a few nasty cuts to her legs right through the fabric of her pants, which made her stumble.

There was a blur to her left and then Franky's arm was in front of her, blocking some of the petals and pushing her back. Franky inhaled deeply, and then exhaled a wall of fire into the charging mass of petals.

As if in a panic, half of the attacking group broke away. The remaining collection of red blades were caught in the roiling flames and twisted in the air for only a moment before falling to the grass, smoldering. But despite this their numbers seemed to replenish themselves, and soon the two pirates were facing just as many petals as before.

It struck Robin that they must be coming from somewhere nearby to gather so quickly and she cast a searching look over the field as Franky held the petals at bay with more fire.

A flash of red in one of the thin trees caught Robin's eye. It was only a split second, but there it was; one of the closed flower buds snapped open and released a small grouping of new petals.

"Franky!" The shipwright turned and followed Robin's gaze to the tree, and it only took him a moment to get her meaning. He turned fully and in one smooth move scooped Robin off the ground and ran toward the tree.

The cloud of petals raced after them, but when Franky hit the first tree full-on with a blast of fire, a good chunk of the petals simply shriveled and fell to the ground, as if dying as their mother tree burned. And in a disturbing display the tree itself twisted and swayed as if trying to escape the blaze that consumed it.

The remaining petal's attacks turned almost reluctant after this and when a second tree was set ablaze, taking with it another group of petals, the fluttering blades stopped entirely. There were a mere three trees left standing in the field.

Franky and Robin watched in tense silence as the remaining petals swirled in a slow, considering manner. Then their graceful pattern broke up and they drifted of their own accord back to the trees that still stood, reforming into flowers and then closing up again. Apparently attacking this dangerous prey wasn't worth it, and the trees possessed enough awareness to realize it.

For a long moment, Franky and Robin just stared at the trees, surrounded by the sound of crackling wood as two of them curled and burned. Then Franky glanced down to where Robin still rested in his arms, and the archaeologist blinked and looked up at him.

A pause.

Franky cleared his throat. "You, ah, want down?"

Robin considered it, and then looked down at her legs. They stung all over, and more than a handful of the cuts would require a few stitches to close, but they weren't severe enough to really keep her from walking under her own power...

Robin offered the shipwright an almost – _almost –_ sheepish smile. "I don't think so."

A grin swept over Franky's expression and he lifted Robin a bit higher as he turned to head toward the jungle again. "Super."

! ~ ;3 ~ !

XD Luffy's horrible naming ability stems from _my_ horrible naming ability and his own innate silliness. Oh, and I really like Flower (the dancing flower). XD I'm having my artistically-talented sister draw it for me, so maybe I'll post a link up for you guys to see it, too. :'D

And, yeah, I really like Franky and Robin's scene. SHUSH, I'm not implying that it's hints of a pairing or anything. Though I guess you could see it that way...

o_o And no Zoro and Sanji?! I'm so sorry! D: I have their next scene all planned out and I even started writing it here... but the end of Franky and Robin's scene just screamed "end of chapter" at me and I couldn't bring myself to add more. ;w; Forgive me? I promise Zoro and Sanji will be a big part of the next chapter. I hope this chapter was good anyway. D:

And AUGH! So so _soo_ sorry for the delay with this update. D: I hit a spot of writer's block and had to work on this chapter all day, when it usually only takes me like two hours to complete an update of nice length. :C It was really annoying.

P.S. Kerykeion gets a Supaa Stick for being awesome. XD


	7. Chapter 7

Luffy decided, as he skulked through the jungle underbrush with great stealth that was entirely imagined, that Usopp should have come along. Not just because the sniper was missing out, but Luffy kept finding cool things and he had no one to show them to. When he'd tried to give Nami a big black beetle he'd found up in a tree, she had just screamed and whacked him over the head.

Usopp would have liked his beetle. Flower swished in silent understanding on his shoulder.

Mind drifting from such unhappy thoughts, Luffy climbed up the face of another large tree until he reached the first branch large enough to hold him and swept an assessing look over the surrounding jungle. To his right was solid jungle, his vision obscured by hundreds of huge trees, but to his left was a dark spot, a small area devoid of grass or vines or ferns.

Luffy blinked as he stared at the spot, and it took him a moment to realize that it was a crater in the ground, not just a bare patch of dirt. He couldn't make out much detail at this distance, but this finding was odd enough to keep his attention. "Nami!"

Down on the jungle floor and a good few yards from the tree Luffy occupied, the navigator's head snapped up and she tried to pin-point Luffy's voice. "What is it? Did you find something?"

"Maybe," Luffy yelled back, and then swung off the branch to slide down the moss-covered tree trunk to land on the jungle floor. "Over here; some kind of hole in the ground."

Nami had battled her way over to the tree by then and let Luffy lead her between the trees and a curtain of hanging vines to reach the point of interest.

Both of them stood on the edge of the hole, which seemed more like a cave or tunnel, and gazed down into the darkness. The opening was maybe six-by-six feet wide, and a very faint breeze gusted out of the open mouth of the cave to ruffle hair and clothing, which meant there had to be another entrance _somewhere_ on the island to provide airflow.

Luffy crouched down to peer into the hole, hands on his bent knees. "What do you think?"

The navigator considered the maw of the tunnel, the smooth rock that only sported a few stray vines, and then swung her bag off her shoulder. She knelt down and unzipped it, digging around inside until she found the small lantern she had packed for just such an occasion. Luffy watched with interest as she grabbed a box of matches, lit the lantern, then shut the little glass door to protect the flame. The lantern was set aside on a smooth rock, and Nami passed a tight coil of rope over to her captain.

"Tie that up to that rock over there, okay?" She pointed to where a stone jutted up sharply near the mouth of the cave and Luffy uncoiled the rope to wrap it around the rock. Nami made a loop on the other end while he did this, and fixed the lantern to it. Once Luffy was finished, she held the rope over the cave's mouth and let the lantern go. It swung gently on the end of the rope, and Nami started lowering it down into the cave.

It took about a minute before they heard a metallic _tink! _and the rope went slack. Both of them peered into the hole, and Nami nodded approvingly at the ring of light the lantern cast on the cave floor, maybe fifteen feet down.

She turned to an expectant Luffy and flashed a smile. "Up for some spelunking?"

~ ;3 ~

Using a stretchy arm to lower both himself and Nami down into the cave, Luffy deposited the navigator on the uneven floor, then dropped the last few inches and let his arm snap back to join the rest of him. Nami freed the lantern from the hanging rope and raised it up to let light cast over their surroundings.

The cave was cold, moist and drafty, and the tunnel they stood in was narrow. There was only one path that led away from the circular entrance, and the ceiling was barely high enough for the two pirates to stand fully upright. The ceiling itself was rough and sharp with rocky outcroppings, so care had to be taken when navigating in the dim lantern light. The only reason Luffy was able to keep track of Flower was because the plant was mildly luminescent in the darkness.

Nami went first, mostly because Luffy was too excited for her to trust his self-control, and having him crack his head open would slow their progress greatly. The navigator walked with the lantern held ahead to cast the tunnel in warm firelight, and stayed bent slightly at the waist to keep clear of the treacherous ceiling.

They walked for an indeterminate amount of time – maybe twenty minutes, maybe an hour – and the tunnel stretched out before them, looking endless. The little lantern could only illuminate a few feet into the darkness due to its tiny flame, so Nami focused on watching her step and moving forward slowly. She was glad of this choice when she avoided sticking her foot in a muddy hole, instead stepping over it. Behind her she heard a wet squish and Luffy yelp and she stifled a laugh.

Something glinted in the lantern light and Nami's gaze flickered to the cave floor on reflex. There, lying at her feet and half covered in gooey mud was a gold coin the size of her palm.

Nami jerked to a stop and Luffy crashed into her back with an "oomph." The navigator ignored him and snatched the coin up with a gasp. "Luffy! Look!"

Luffy peered over her shoulder and his eyes widened faintly. "Then..."

Nami shoved the coin into her pocket and moved forward more quickly, one hand feeling along the cave wall. "It's gotta be in here. Just a little further!"

And it was. Nami nearly stumbled when the cave walls broke away and opened into a larger cavern that echoed with the sound of light wind and dripping water. The lantern's flame sputtered at being jarred, then flared back to life and cast its weak light over a dark object on the cave floor.

Nami's breath caught as she moved forward and set the lantern down, her hands running over the aged wood of a knee-high chest. Scattered around it, strewn carelessly across the stone floor were more gold coins and even a few small, glittering gems.

Luffy stooped to accept the gem Flower offered him from the floor, then straightened up and wiped it clean of grime on his vest before holding it out into the dim lamp light where Nami could see. The navigator bit her lower lip excitedly and turned back to where she was breaking a brittle lock off the trunk's latch. It only took two hard strikes of a rock and the rusted metal snapped and fell away, and Nami carefully set her hands on either side of the lid, almost hesitantly. Luffy leaned over her shoulder as the tension mounted, and then finally Nami flipped the lid open.

Lantern light washed over the chest and its content reflected it in brilliant gleams of gold and jewel tones. The chest was filled with coins and gems and pieces of jewelry, and there were more chests stacked up behind it.

"You found it," Luffy said behind her, his voice laughing.

"I found it," Nami agreed, and then whirled around to catch Luffy in a crushing, triumphant hug.

~ ;3 ~

They may not have found _gold_, Chopper thought as he walked with Brooke back through the jungle toward the ship, but he _had _managed to find a treasure trove of medicinal plants that he had never expected to come across. With Brooke's help – the musician had really gotten into the search, though he had little knowledge about plants and had to ask about every specimen he found – Chopper had completely filled the little basket he had brought with him. It was overflowing with many different kinds of plants and herbs, and he even had to use his backpack to carry some greenery when he couldn't fit any more in the basket. And the variety! Some of the plants he'd found weren't even supposed to grow in the same region.

Chopper picked through his basket with a wide grin, thoroughly pleased... though he'd never openly admit it.

"Oh." Brooke's voice brought the doctor out of his reverie and he glanced up as Brooke stepped to the side of their previously-traveled path and reached into the underbrush to pluck something from within the ferns and vines. He straightened up and extended his find to Chopper, who blinked in amazement.

Brooke displayed a bright blue flower with great, wide petals striped in concentric circles with purple and red. At its center was a tight bunch of closed petals in bright red, spotted with the same neon blue. It was about seven inches across and unlike anything Chopper had ever seen.

"What an interesting flower," Brooke commented, thoroughly intrigued. In their entire day of plant-gathering they hadn't come across even one specimen so brightly-colored or unique in shape. "Do you know what it is?"

Chopper lifted small hooves to carefully touch the flower's petals and shook his head. "I've never seen one before."

"Even in one of your books?" Brooke asked, and Chopper shook his head again. Now they both regarded the flower with awed expressions, leaning in close to get a better view of its pattern.

The central clutch of petals shifted rather suddenly and peeled open with a long hiss of air, exposing spikes arranged in a spiral that looks more like teeth than thorns. In fact, the entire structure looked rather like a mouth; there was even a gooey sort of sap much like saliva clinging to the edges of the thorn-teeth.

The two pirates stared at the plant as its hiss petered out, and a moment of still silence followed. The beastly flowers ended that drawn moment by trying to bite Chopper in the face, and Brooke flung the thing as both he and the reindeer turned on their heels and ran away, wisely deciding that they had found enough plants.

The flower watched them go, laying on the ferns the pair had flattened underfoot and looking decidedly unamused. Then it ruffled is petals and started worm-crawling back into the underbrush.

~ ;3 ~

"You got it?"

"I got it."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Don't spill it!"

"Nami" - Luffy grinned down at the navigator from where he stood at the mouth of the cave, hoisting treasure boxes out as the navigator secured them to the rope she had dropped earlier - "I got it."

Nami nodded and helped to lift the chest the first few feet, then Luffy pulled it up the rest of the way and both he and the wooden box disappeared for a moment. This had been repeated four times so far, and that was the last of the treasure chests. Nami had gathered all of the loose pieces she could find and placed them in her back pack rather than trying to stuff them in the boxes.

A rubbery arm extended down into the cave and Nami took the offered hand, then found herself pulled rapidly back to the surface. Once she regained her footing she cast an adoring look over the treasure chests, but then realized the problem they presented: four heavy treasure chests, and two pirates to transport them.

Why was _this _the only thing she hadn't considered before setting out that morning? "Luffy."

Luffy looked over from where he was trying to put a diamond bracelet on Flower like a necklace. "Huh?"

"How many of these can you carry?" Nami asked, eyes locked on the treasure chests. Luffy wandered over to stand next to her with his hands locked behind his neck. He considered the boxes, tilting his head this way and that, and then finally said, "Three."

"Only three?" Nami asked dejectedly.

"They're kinda big," Luffy said, but at the look on the navigator's face he thought of revising his answer. He stepped up to the boxes and set his feet, then flung his arms around them. He paired the chests up and wrapped rubbery arms around them multiple times, then dragged them over to himself and hoisted them up onto his shoulders.

He managed to stagger only once at his new top-heaviness, then turned to Nami. "Maybe four."

"Hell yes!" Nami pumped a fist in the air and then jerked the straps of her heavy, gold-laden back pack. "Let's get out of here."

The rattling hiss that sounded to their left might as well have simply said, "And where might you be going?"

Both pirates spun toward the sound and Nami's eyes widened in horrid recognition, because standing maybe ten feet away and flashing colors that ranged from red to white and purple was an entire pack of the creatures from back in the clearing, just like the one whose brains Nami had knocked in with her Clima-Tact.

The navigator edged backward, carefully drawing her weapon to hold defensively before her as a few of the creatures flared their flowery heads and shrieked.

"Hey Nami?" Luffy tipped his head and the navigator kept her eyes trained on the creatures. "How sturdy do you think these boxes are?" He rattled one.

Confused and more than a little freaked out by their current position, Nami could only cast a quick glance at him and say, "Pretty sturdy, why?"

The first two creatures that charged forward met a rather unexpected and nasty end when they were squashed by huge treasure chests. Nami stifled an outraged squawk and instead dove away from Luffy as the rubber-man started swinging the treasure boxes like huge hammers through the ranks of attacking plant-creatures.

Safely out of Luffy's range, Nami lifted her Clima-Tact and narrowed her eyes as she took the segments apart to rearrange. "Rain Tempo..."

Across the tiny clearing, oblivious to Nami's actions and the odd changes in weather, treasure chests and plant-creatures were flying around at blurring speed. The beasts were surprisingly spry for being made of wood and vines and once they got over the initial shock of their kin being squished, they started darting around and presenting much more difficult targets. While Luffy was distracted by one group, another group circled around to flank him and attack with lightning speed.

Luffy made a startled sound when two of the creatures flung themselves upon him, knocking him to his knees. Luckily he was never introduced to their many rows of razor teeth as he heard a cry of "Thunderbolt Tempo!" and was briefly blinded by a flash of light.

Luffy, being rubber, was completely unaffected by the bolt of lightning. The plant-creatures on the other hand were charred to a crisp and fell stiffly to the ground.

Luffy blinked at them and then grinned in Nami's direction. "Thanks, Nami!"

Nami waved her Clima-Tact in recognition.

It took around ten minutes to dispatch the remaining creatures, and when the scuffle finally ended with one last charred plant on the clearing floor, Nami let herself sink to the ground and catch her breath. Through the canopy of the trees overhead she could see that the sky was starting to turn orange and red, so they didn't have much daylight left. They really had to get moving.

Luffy set the treasure chests down with loud thuds and swiped a hand over his forehead. "Whew! Those things are heavy."

Nami stared at the treasure boxes, then at Luffy, and her brows drew together. "Ah... why didn't you put those down earlier?"

Luffy gave her a blank look, then his expression turned thoughtful. Finally he just shrugged. "I dunno."

Nami let out an exasperated breath and put her Clima-Tact away again. "Come on, let's just get--"

"_OW!_" Luffy suddenly jumped and tripped over one of the treasure chests, only to land on his face and then scramble upright again.

Standing where the Luffy had just been was one last plant-creature, and it had a mouthful of Luffy's denim shorts between its teeth. It spat the fabric out and snarled menacingly, taking an advancing step Luffy's way.

A little white blur darted off Luffy's shoulder, across the ground and right up the plant-creature's leg. Upon further inspection it was Flower, and the plant-creature spun around, trying to grab the white bloom, but Flower scuttled up the length of its body until it was perched on the creature's head. The larger plant tossed its head and growled, and Flower's little arms wiggled, then grew rapidly to wrap around the larger plant's head.

There was a sickening crack and a wet squish as the creature's head was crushed, and it dropped limply. Flower still stood on the petals that surrounded its face, swishing its fluttery floral skirts in a satisfied manner.

Nami and Luffy looked on with identical horrified expressions, mouths gaping open. Nami was the first to speak, and all she could manage was, "_Ew._"

~ ;3 ~

"I can walk," Zoro protested for what must have been the fifth time after waking up once again to find Sanji hauling him off the ground like an invalid. It was just poison, he had ranted, and obviously it wasn't very strong poison because he was already awake.

But Sanji didn't listen to his logic, and when Zoro tried to shake him off, the blond just scowled and shoved his arm aside. When had he gotten so strong, anyway?

"No, you can't, and I'm not going to be carrying a dead body back to the ship," Sanji ground out as he arranged his pack and then moved to retrieve his cheerful traveling companion.

"Yes, I can. Get off, dartboard-brow," Zoro said rather waspishly and Sanji finally had enough of it.

"Fine. Try it. I'll wait over here," snapped the cook, and he promptly walked a few paces down the barely-discernible path they had left in the underbrush to stand with his arms folded and his back to Zoro.

The swordsman glared so hard at Sanji's back that the cook should have by all rights caught fire right then and there. But once again Sanji failed to do what he wanted so Zoro shifted his attention to proving the idiot wrong.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath, willing away the weakness the poison caused. He knew his right arm was still nearly useless and made a safe guess that his left leg was in about the same shape. He'd just compensate accordingly.

With one hand braced against the tree next to him, Zoro levered himself into a sitting position. Sadly his pride in that accomplishment was short-lived when his world listed heavily to the left and he ended up leaning against the tree so he didn't fall over again. Once the dark spots left his vision he took a steadying breath and tried to pull himself up, but he was shaking just from the effort _sitting_ up.

He tried once more, using the tree as support, but to much the same result. The only difference this time was it was harder to breathe and he could feel his heartbeat drumming in his chest like he had run a mile.

Setting a hand against his chest, Zoro muttered a sharp curse and glared at the ground. This was humiliating...

"Curly-brow." Sanji made no response. Zoro debated seppuku. With a hiss of breath, he tried again; "Sanji."

The blond head turned and Sanji peered at the swordsman over his right shoulder with his visible eyebrow feathered up. "Hm?"

Zoro ground his teeth, fingers biting into the tree bark. "Oh, come on."

"Is something wrong?" Sanji asked without turning around. "We should really get going."

At this rate, Zoro was going to grind his teeth to powder. He took a steadying breath and scowled at the ground, muttering, "I need your help."

Sanji considered making him say it again, but decided to show some mercy and instead turned to walk over to the swordsman. "See, marimo? That wasn't so bad."

"I hate you so much," Zoro replied.

"I know." Sanji grinned widely.

~ ;3 ~

Sanji knew that at some point while heading inland he had seen a rocky outcropping with a small cave inside. He was sure, because it had been before the initial plant attack and he had given it a cursory check for signs of Nami's treasure, but it had appeared to be empty and they had moved on.

Darkness was approaching fast now, and Sanji had decided that the cave was their best bet. They wouldn't make it back to the ship and he sure as hell wasn't going to spend the night out in the open in this shitty jungle.

Most of the walk had been spent in silence as, despite his claims of wellness, Zoro had fallen asleep quickly once Sanji had started moving. Sanji was carrying the swordsman piggy-back style so he could watch where he was walking in the failing light, and Zoro's breath was hot against his shoulder.

The temperature had dropped with the sun and strong winds were trying their best to cut through the thick jungle, whistling in the tree branches overhead loud enough that the blond almost didn't hear Zoro's coughed, "Sanji."

Sanji sighed and glanced briefly over his shoulder, assuming he knew the problem. "You're not walking."

Proving his assumptions completely wrong, Zoro shuddered and said the one thing that could get Sanji to put him down: "Gonna be sick-"

Sanji wasn't sure he'd ever moved so fast. He had knelt down and let Zoro on the ground before that plan had fully formed in his head. And he was grateful for it, for as soon as Zoro's knees hit the dirt the swordsman coughed and gagged and Sanji tried to ignore the rest of the sound effects, steadying the other man with a hand on his shoulder.

Once Zoro seemed finished and was just coughing hard, Sanji chanced a look at him, and faltered. The ground in front of where Zoro knelt was stained dark with blood, and the hand the swordsman had over his mouth was covered in it as well.

Sanji gave himself a hard mental shake and moved to support the other man when he finally ran out of energy and nearly fell over, still shaking with sporadic coughs.

Shit. And they had thought it was wearing off?

"Zoro." Sanji leaned around to look at his face, now bloody and too-pale with closed eyes underscored with darker rings than before. He looked like death warmed over, and he didn't respond to Sanji's voice.

The blond cursed a blue streak as he lifted Zoro from the ground and started walking again. He could only think to get him out of the wind and make for the Sunny as soon as day broke.

~ ;3 ~

Full dark had set in when Sanji finally reached the cave, but he didn't just stumble inside. Instead, he carefully set Zoro down by the entrance, then went in by himself and stripped every stray vine or weed from the cave walls. Only once the plants were evicted did he bring Zoro into the cave.

The place was small and scattered with small rocks but it was better than being out in the open with the wind and whatever was prowling around in the jungle. Sanji leaned Zoro back against the wall, deciding against laying him down just in case he started choking again. That done, the blond stepped out long enough to grab something flammable and then set up a nice fire by the cave's entrance. Those shitty plants seemed to burn rapidly, so the fire should deter them from creeping into the cave, he reasoned.

But once the fire was crackling away and Sanji had taken stock of their supplies – their untouched food, one canteen's worth of water, the map, some rope, a lantern which he lit and set aside, and a bottle of alcohol he wished he'd known about earlier when he was wrapping Zoro's wounds – he was out of distractions.

With a wary sigh Sanji looked over to where Zoro leaned against the wall, his swords propped up next to him, just as still as their master.

How the hell had this happened? It was just a simple scout mission; see if they could find some treasure, head back to the ship whether they did or not. Now Zoro was just laying there, his breathing uneven and looking like he might not make it back--

Sanji made a frustrated sound and dragged both hands through his blond hair roughly to clear his head. He wasn't going to think like that; he was going to focus on dealing with the situation now, and in the morning _both_ of them were going back to the Sunny and Chopper would help Zoro. That was the plan, and he wasn't changing it.

Sanji's gaze flickered over to Zoro again briefly, and he sighed when he saw the swordsman was shivering. It wasn't that cold in the cave, especially with the fire going, so he chalked yet another bad sign up to the poison.

Rising to his feet and shrugging out of his suit jacket, Sanji crossed the cave and took a spot next to Zoro, pressing his back against a large rock so he was mostly reclining. He tugged the swordsman toward him, rearranged them so Zoro was leaning back against his chest with the blond's legs on either side of him and his head resting on Sanji's shoulder, then draped his suit jacket over the other man like a blanket.

If Zoro was the first to wake up, he wold probably freak out at their position, but Sanji was tired both from travel and worry and decided he'd deal with that if and when it came up. As it was, the swordsman shifted closer to Sanji and relaxed more from comfort than exhaustion and the blond just tipped his head back against the rock and let himself drift.

It wasn't so uncomfortable anyway.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

My deepest, most profound, most _heart-felt_ apologies for my suckiness and the delay with this chapter. D: Does it being Long Chapter of Extra Longness help to placate you? No? -face 2 desk-

:v For those of you who are unfamiliar with the word, "spelunking" is the recreational sport of exploring caves. It's also a really fun word to say. Spelunking, spelunking, spelunking! XDD

And now we see Flower, the great guard plant! You had betta not mess with Luffy 'cause Flower will MESS you UP. :C

There are certain parts of this that I'm not too fond of, but I'm not going to bitch about them. XD I'll know they were _truly_ bad if anyone else points them out to me and goes "wtf were you thinking?"

:'D And that's pretty much all I have to say about that.


	8. Chapter 8

It was just before full night set in that the first team found their way back to the beach, and it was Chopper and Brooke. Having run most of the way back after the "Evil Flower Incident" they made good time, and couldn't have been more grateful for it; the idea of spending the night anywhere on Libitina was terrifying.

The two explorers were in the middle of relating their story to Usopp when more figures came out of the jungle and onto the beach. This time it was Franky and Robin, and Usopp took the Mini Merry to the shore to retrieve them.

Night had fallen, cloudy and starless, by the time Nami and Luffy stumbled their way back to the beach. Laden with treasure and exhausted from the day, they still managed to look excited.

It was Franky and Usopp who went to shore to meet them – though after hearing about murderous flowers the sniper was less than thrilled to be on the beach – and Nami had to restrain Luffy by the collar of his vest to keep him from trying to run into the waves before the Mini Merry had even reached them.

Usopp got one foot on the sand before Nami released Luffy's collar and the captain tackled his sniper back into the boat, both of them landing in an ungainly tangle of limbs.

"You wont believe it!" Luffy cried. "There were caves and monsters made of plants and we found the treasure and look at this I call it _Flower._" And again, he shoved the swishy creature in someone's face.

Usopp stared. Flower poked his nose. The sniper had a conniption.

"You really hit the jackpot," Franky commented to Nami as he lugged the treasure chests into the small boat and tried not to squash either of the pirates now flailing around on the floor.

Full of pride, the navigator grinned and stepped into the boat to shrug off her back pack. Lugging it around all day had her shoulders aching. "I told you there was treasure here."

After setting the last of the treasure boxes down, Franky held his hands up. "Hey, Zoro was the only one complaining." That gave him pause though and he looked across the beach at the tree line. "Where are those guys, anyway?"

Nami shrugged. "Haven't seen them since this morning. Either they killed each other, or they'll be along in a little bit."

Luffy's head poked up into view then. He was sitting on Usopp's back after the sniper had apparently fainted from having a sentient, dancing flower on his head. Obviously Chopper's retelling of the "Evil Flower Incident" hadn't helped his introduction to the _non-_evil Flower.

"Let's hurry; I wanna show Flower to Robin," the captain said, practically shaking with anticipation.

Franky smirked and shoved the small boat back from the shore, then hopped in with the others to head back to the Sunny.

~ ;3 ~

After Chopper had seen to everyone's scrapes and bruises, swapping stories about their separate encounters with the Libitina plant-life took up the next few hours of the present crew's time. Nami and Brooke had to tell the events of their days without help though, since Chopper and Luffy were busy mimicking Flower's dance, wiggling and swishing per the plant's silent instructions. Usopp seemed to have recovered from his brief panic attack and after a bit of prodding from his captain and the doctor he joined in their dance as well.

Robin had just finished recounting the incident with the strange trees and now sat next to Franky at the dining table, idly sipping a cup of coffee. They had all gathered in the dining hall so Luffy, Chopper and Usopp's running around wouldn't much get in the way.

"I wish _we'd_ thought to burn those things," Nami said with an exasperated breath as she dropped her folded arms on the tabletop.

"Your method sounded very effective, navigator-san," Robin commented and earned a laugh from Nami.

"They didn't get back up, so I guess you're right," Nami agreed and rested her chin on her arms. "And we got the treasure, so I guess it was all worth it."

"We made some intriguing discoveries ourselves while exploring," Robin said as she reached down and took hold of the strap of her pack to lift it onto the table. "No treasure, of course, but something that might interest you?"

Nami lifted her head as the archaeologist passed her a folded piece of parchment and a notebook, both worn and yellow with age. With raised brows the navigator unfolded the paper and laid it out flat on the table before her to examine. She tipped her head a moment later and read from the top of the page, "Rosen?"

Robin nodded as she rested an arm on the table. "We found it with the journal; it seems this island used to go by that name, but it was changed, most likely following what happened to the citizens of the small village we found those articles in. A sort of warning, we think." She looked to Franky briefly and he nodded.

While Robin spoke, Nami flipped through the journal that accompanied the map and grimaced. Uhg, plant-monsters.

"Hey Nami?"

The navigator jumped and nearly knocked her head on Luffy's chin when the rubber-man leaned over her. Recovering her dignity, she craned her neck to scowl at him. "I told you not to do that. What is it?"

"Can plants be made of meat?" Luffy asked with a slight tip of his head.

A moment of silence passed in the room.

"Uhh..." Nami blinked. "No, because they're made of plant." She said this slowly to let it sink in, but if she had expected Luffy to be disappointed, she was surprised.

"That's okay," the captain said with a flash of a grin. "I bet those weird plant-monster things would still taste good. Think we could get Sanji to cook some for us if me and Usopp bring them back to the ship?"

Everyone ignored the sniper's slightly panicked, "_Me?!_"

Deciding against trying to rationalize the need to eat plant-monsters, Nami just gave a half-shrug and said, "You'll have to ask him whenever he gets back," as she turned away again.

This had Luffy's expression turning slightly more serious. "I wonder where they are?"

"It has gotten rather late," Brooke commented. "I had expected them back much sooner than this."

Franky's gaze shifted to Luffy then. "Think we should look for 'em?"

Nami intervened before it got much farther, rising to her feet and reclaiming some of her personal space when Luffy backed up. "We all already know what's on that island. If any of us are capable of dealing with it, it's those two." A pause. "And maybe Luffy, but that doesn't mean _any_ of us need to go running all over the island and getting ourselves lost."

Luffy gave it a moment, looking over each of the people waiting for his decision. The situation was troubling, but he had meant what he'd said about having faith in his nakama's abilities...

"Tomorrow," Luffy said finally. "In the morning. If they're not back, we'll go find them."

Nami nodded her agreement as she stepped around her chair. Chopper still had a worried cast to his expression however, so the navigator added, "Zoro probably just got himself lost. You know him."

But the doctor still looked doubtful, so Robin rose to her feet. "Chopper, why don't you show me those plants you gathered on the island?"

The little reindeer lit up immediately, then quickly tried to cover it. "Uhm, okay."

He led Robin from the room, and shortly after the rest of the crew filed out as well; some to take watch, some to head to bed after the long, exhausting day.

Luffy lingered on the deck briefly though, when everyone else had already headed below. His eyes drifted back to the beach and the black wall that was the tree line. The jungle was cast into an impenetrable darkness on the moonless night, huge trees like great bars to deter trespass.

Luffy's eyes flickered, and then he walked off to disappear below deck.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

These two are posted together because I needed to do updates for everyone _and_ have a chapter chock-full of Sanji-Zoro goodness, but I didn't want to put them in the same chapter due to time-line differences. XD SOYAY, two chapters.

Move along, ye readers. :v


	9. Chapter 9

Morning came to Libitina slowly, chill and damp. The fog that rolled in thickly off the ocean obscured the beach in a curtain of white and curled around trees, snaking much farther inland than might have been expected, blanketing most of the island in a thin layer of mist.

Sanji woke reluctantly, lulled by the silence of the jungle and the warmth of the body curled against his chest. He might have been able to drift back to sleep if it hadn't been for his shoulder blades digging into the hard, rough surface he leaned against.

His sleepy mind replayed that thought and his brows drew together in a mildly confused frown. Why would he be sleeping on something _hard? _Had he somehow ended up on the floor? Even if that was the case, though, it didn't explain who was laying on him...

Reality hit Sanji like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head and his eyes snapped open, memories of the previous day flooding back to him as he looked down with a flash of panic. He didn't really know what he had expected to see, but there was Zoro, still sprawled across his chest with Sanji's black suit jacket pulled up to his neck. He had turned over at some point during the night and now lay with his chest against Sanji's stomach, head resting just below the blond's shoulder, but that was the only change.

With a slow exhale to calm his rattled nerves, Sanji dropped his head back against the rock and laid a hand over his eyes. The minor movement must have disturbed Zoro though because he made a disgruntled sound against the cook's shoulder and shifted up, and Sanji stiffened when the sleeping swordsman's face pressed against the side of his neck.

Zoro relaxed a moment later, but Sanji stayed stiff as a board, eyes locked on the far wall.

Moments ticked by, the silence only broken by Zoro's quiet breathing. Finally Sanji willed himself to relax and ease his raised arm back to his side, his gaze shifting to what he could see of Zoro's face at this angle. Sleeping as he was, looking so content, Sanji could almost forget what had happened to him. The only sign at that moment was his temperature, which still told of a nasty fever. Heat came off the swordsman in waves, almost enough to make Sanji uncomfortable.

The blond sighed quietly and carefully set a hand against the back of Zoro's head, shifting the swordsman enough that he could rest his chin on green hair instead of having to crane his neck at odd angles. He knew, somewhere in the corner of his mind, that he shouldn't be sitting there doing nothing, that he should be getting up and heading for the Sunny. But it was a strange feeling, being that close to Zoro and _not_ bitching at each other, so he allowed himself a brief moment to enjoy the unaccustomed silence.

He had no idea how fortuitous that decision was until a moment later when he heard a scraping sound near the cave's entrance. On reflex, Sanji ducked his head lower behind the rock to keep out of sight, then carefully leaned over enough to peer around the stone toward the entrance of the cave.

Standing in the mouth of the cave, sniffing at he charred wood from the previous night's fire were two of the weirdest creatures Sanji seen on the island yet. Heads like snap dragons and built like little raptors.

One of them snorted and stepped over the pile of ash and spent wood, jibbering some nonsense at its companion and flashing rows of jagged little teeth.

Sanji's eyes narrowed and he moved as silently as he could to lay Zoro against the wall, freeing up his arms to slowly reach toward his back pack, which lay by his knees. The two creatures were edging closer into the cave, sniffing around and crouched low. Obviously they knew something was in there, and they were showing far too much interest to be friendly. That and the fact that Sanji could hear more of them moving around outside the cave made this a very bad situation.

Sanji slipped his hand into his pack and felt around inside until his fingers closed over the cool neck of the glass bottle of alcohol. His other hand fished the lighter from his pocket as he turned over onto his knees and twisted the cap off the bottle to take a swig.

It was at that moment that the two creatures in the cave heard him, and their flowery heads snapped up to release simultaneous growls in his direction. Not that it did them much good; Sanji gave his lighter a flick and slid out from behind the rock, spraying his mouthful of alcohol over the flame. It worked like fuel, turning into a rolling cloud of fire that overcame the two shrieking creatures as they tried to make a run for it. They ended up burning on the floor, and Sanji wasted no time examining them as he lunged to his feet and ran to the mouth of the cave. He had to keep the other ones from getting in.

At first glance it seemed Sanji had overestimated the severity of the situation; there were only about five of the nasty little things milling about near the cave entrance. It was only when he looked past them and into the underbrush of the surrounding jungle that he realized there were more. Flashes of bright color from the creature's heads was the only way he could pick them out of the green, but he counted at least ten other than the five facing him with menacing hisses, and had no idea how many more were lurking out of sight.

He refused to be intimidated. Right now he was the only one who could fight, and if those things got into the cave... He didn't even want to think about what might happen. So when the first creature lunged, Sanji cleared his head and put a foot in its face. It was rather satisfying when the thing's head caved in. Kind of like a melon.

Its body hit the ground with a _thud _and for the briefest of moments the rest of the pack just stared at the corpse. Then as a unit, every one of those brightly-colored heads lifted and locked little black eyes on Sanji. Then the pack gave a collective shriek and charged.

Picking off the more brazen creatures was easy; they ran in blindly and a solid strike to the head would drop them. But when Sanji struck out with a fast kick to one of the thing's sides as it tried to circle around behind him, it just snarled and rolled a few feet before getting up and shaking the blow off.

That was unsettling.

There was a blur of purple to his left and Sanji spun to strike the jumping thing in its face. It sailed backward and crashed into a few others, scattering them in brief panic. Sanji used that moment to take another mouthful of the alcohol and catch three of the distracted ones in the following blaze. But he immediately had to retreat when almost the entire pack retaliated, so eager to have their chance to attack that they were stumbling over each other.

Sanji found himself being pushed further and further from the cave, but he realized his worries were pointless; these creatures weren't very bright and they just kept chasing the one prey item they could see. If he kept moving around, he could pick them off like he had been; a couple at a time. Slow but effective.

Sanji dove to the side and rolled to his feet again when two of the creatures managed to break free of the herd and jump at him, teeth snapping much too close for comfort. But Sanji nearly ran into two more of the things as they charged out of the jungle. How many more of these things were there?

One of the newcomers dove at him and Sanji side-stepped the attack to retaliate with a hard kick that sent the offending creature flying face-first into another one's armored side. It didn't get back up again, and the one it had crashed into was running around in a dazed panic, so Sanji just lit the leafy part of its head on fire as he ran past it.

This plan was working, but not quickly enough. Each time one of the their companions dropped, the rest of the pack just seemed to grow more enraged and thus more daring. One of the yellow ones gave a startling shriek and flung itself forward, managing to get close enough to Sanji to leave three nasty gashes in his right leg from the claws on its hands. And when Sanji tried to stomp its head in, it growled and dodged away from him.

The others started mimicking this almost immediately. One minute they were stumbling over each other, chasing the blond around the clearing in a graceless clutch, and the next moment they were spreading out to attack individually or in pairs and trying to circle around him. Either they were getting smarter, or Sanji had just been extremely lucky up to that moment.

Two dark-colored creatures lunged forward then and Sanji had to quickly fend them off to avoid anymore damage, unable to land killing blows as the things twisted to guard their vulnerable heads. Sanji let out a sharp curse and slammed a kick into one's side to send it skidding away, but then he heard something behind him and realized he'd made a big mistake. Getting distracted by pairs had let others flank him, and he was now stuck in the middle of the clearing, surrounded on all sides by growling, snapping jaws.

He knew, as the first one lunged and he turned to knock it back, that he was screwed. He heard the shriek and braced for one of them to slam into his back, but surprisingly, the impact never came. Instead came the sound of ringing metal, a chorus of surprised shrieking and the sound of a body hitting the ground.

Sanji's eyes widened and he spun to find Zoro crouched a few feet away, two blades drawn and narrowed eyes studying the creatures in the clearing. And for an instant Sanji was hopeful – he was up and fighting, so he had to be better, right? – but then the blond noticed how rough Zoro's breathing was, how there was a slight flush to his face and how it took him a moment to straighten up again and he realized Zoro was just as sick as before, but pushing himself, just like always.

"You idiot," Sanji snapped waspishly as he edged closer to the swordsman, trying to watch both Zoro and the creatures circling them at the same time. "You're going to kill yourself!"

"And you're going to get yourself killed," Zoro countered evenly. His abrupt entrance had apparently given the pack of plant-creatures pause, and they were now doing slow circuits around the clearing, sizing up the two humans in their midst.

Sanji sent the swordsman a brief scowl. "You're sick, marimo. You shouldn't be out here--"

"You're not fighting alone," Zoro said harshly, cutting the other man off. Those narrowed eyes flicked to Sanji and stayed briefly, before Zoro flashed a rare half-smile. "Nakama, remember?"

Sanji blinked in surprise, momentarily taken aback, but then gave a resigned shake of his blond head. "Crazyass..." He squared his shoulders, shifting his feet slightly. "All right. But if you die, I'll kick your ass."

Zoro just snorted, and then they both lunged.

Sanji struck the group before him with rapid kicks and quick use of fire, and Zoro sliced through the flanking pack before they could retreat. Their tough skin couldn't stand up to blades like it could to normal attacks, but Sanji had the advantage of being able to burn the little bastards, so they were dropping fast.

As a team they were working quickly to cut a swath through the pack, but the creatures kept trying with a sort of brainless determination driving them, and their natural speed and tenacity had both pirates collecting a few scratches and bites. Nothing severe... if you were in good health. Sanji didn't realize what effect such a fight could have on Zoro until the swordsman staggered and had to catch himself, breathing ragged with exhaustion.

But he couldn't hold still like that. The plants were still going, and now they had an easy target. Panic hit Sanji and he tried to break away from his fight to help, he he was blocked in by attacking plants and couldn't do anything as others charged at Zoro.

Swords flashed and two of the creatures fell in pieces, but the swordsman was unsteady and lagging and as he turned to block another lightning-quick attack one of the creatures darted behind him and lunged. It slammed into Zoro's back, digging in its claws and knocking the swordsman flat with the force of the impact. He struggled, trying to shake the thing off and get back to his feet, but blinding pain stopped him dead when the thing dug its teeth into his already-injured shoulder. It was god awful, like a new dose of that scorching poison, and Zoro cried out before he could stop himself.

Sanji was trying desperately to break out of the pack holding him off, but his distraction was just earning him more wounds and no headway. "Zoro!"

But then everything stopped. Like someone had just paused the fight.

In the trees near the pinned swordsman, something moved. Every creature in the clearing froze and all eyes turned to the tree line as one. Even Sanji found himself stilling, gaze shifting to the jungle with a creeping feeling of dread.

Branches snapped, the sound of trees groaning and crashing to the jungle floor almost deafening as it drew closer, accompanied by a thundering sound Sanji had never heard before, like something huge being dragged across the ground...

Silence fell as abruptly as the noise had started. No more sounds of trees being destroyed, no sounds of snapping branches. Even the wind seemed to have stilled in anticipation of what was about to happen. And there was no doubt that _something_ was about to happen.

One of the raptor-plants edged forward cautiously, chirping at the tree line and ducking its head low, trying to pick out shapes or movement.

A vine, long and rust-colored, shot out of the trees and caught around the creature's neck, silencing its startled shriek and yanking it back out of sight. There was a horrible crunching, grinding sound and Sanji's blood ran cold. He lunged forward through the creatures who now milled about in confusion, running as quickly as he could to where Zoro lay.

The swordsman's eyes were open but cloudy, and Sanji didn't bother trying to talk to him. He shoved Zoro's swords into their sheathes and grabbed the swordsman by the arms, hauling him away from the tree line as quickly as he could.

Vines shot from the trees, snatching little plant-raptors off the ground and pulling them screaming back into the jungle. The source of the vines appeared not a moment later, a huge wall of green shoving against two trees with so much force that they were uprooted and tipped out of its path, falling with resounding crashes into the clearing and flattening some of the plant-raptors.

Sanji had to duck as a vine darted over his head, narrowly missing him and instead curling around the tail of a retreating plant-raptor. It shrieked in panic, flying over the cook's head, and Sanji tried to keep his own panic at bay as he grabbed the half-full bottle of alcohol from his pants pocket.

The clearing was in chaos. The entire pack of plant-raptors was caged in by attacking vines and charging around blindly when not being snatched up and hurled into the gaping maw of the monstrous predator that dragged itself further into the clearing, crushing a path for itself.

Sanji grabbed the edge of his own shirt and ripped off a large, jagged piece. He poured some of the bottle's contents over it, then stuffed the cloth into the neck of the bottle, leaving some hanging over.

He nearly dropped everything when a vine curled around his ankle and yanked him backward, making him curse. He rolled over so he was being dragged on his back and started working his lighter quickly. It kept clicking without lighting, and he was being pulled closer to the damn monster.

The vine around Sanji's ankle lifted then, taking him right off the ground and hanging him upside-down, ready to toss him into the monster's mouth. Held up like this he could see into it; a huge set of gaping jaws ringed with thousands of teeth that spun like a grinder.

He shook his lighter violently and tried again, but just earned another useless click. Dammit, he had to get free-- he had to help Zoro.

"Light you piece of shit!"

Finally the lighter flared to life and caught the alcohol-soaked cloth hanging from the neck of the bottle. Sanji gave a harsh laugh and lobbed the thing straight into the plant's mouth.

The result was slightly more spectacular than he might have expected; The bottle dropped out of sight, the tulip-looking monster gave a shudder and then an ear-splitting howl as fire roared up in its mouth like an explosion. Sanji was dropped and landed hard with a grunt, then scrambled away from the beast as it roared and twisted, belching fire and some acrid black smoke into the jungle air.

It only stopped when its entire body was consumed by flames, which didn't take very long. The vines it had spread around the clearing fell limply, and the previously-trapped plant-raptors fled as fast as their legs would carry them.

Sanji hurried to Zoro's side, kneeling down and quickly stripping the shredded cloth away from the swordsman's shoulder. The wound was bleeding, but not terribly. Sanji tried to catch his breath as he tore cloth from his own shirt to re-wrap it, his heart beating so hard he could hear it in his head.

"Shit. Shit-- Zoro? Oi, Zoro?" Sanji gave the swordsman's shoulders a shake and earned a pained gasp, but Zoro's eyes opened slowly and he coughed.

"You have to stay awake," Sanji said, trying to calm his voice as he tied off the new makeshift bandages. "Focus, all right? I think I burned some hair off with that thing. Stinks like hell. Pretty damn clever though." He was babbling just to give Zoro something to focus on, trying to keep the swordsman's eyes open. He had the most horrible feeling that if Zoro drifted off now, he'd never wake up again.

Zoro provided his own distraction when he gave a violent cough, specking Sanji's already-filthy white shirt with new blood. The blond cursed and quickly slid an arm behind Zoro's shoulders to sit him up when he broke into a coughing fit and started choking on blood.

Sanji looked around the clearing almost frantically. He had no idea what to do-- he couldn't move Zoro yet, but they had to get back to the ship--

Sanji locked an arm around Zoro's shoulders, pinning the swordsman to his chest and trying to steady him. He let out a shaky breath and pressed his forehead to Zoro's green hair, waiting for his fit to subside. There was too much blood... Zoro sounded like he was choking ever time he tried to breath, and he was deathly pale. He shouldn't have fought...

It seemed like hours before the swordsman stopped coughing, though in reality it was only minutes. He leaned heavily against Sanji's chest, eyes closed, breathing raggedly and shaking. Sanji didn't waste time now; he pulled Zoro off the ground and took off at a run in the direction they had come from the previous morning.

Get to the ship, get to Chopper... He only hoped he made it in time.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

XD Molotov cocktail is love. AND AHAHA! The evil viney beast meets its end. -maniacal laughter/thunderlightning- Plus you got your Sanji-being-a-badass fix. :'D So yay?

On another note, I am so sorry that these updates keep getting delayed. -_- I haven't been sleeping well and every time I try to settle down and bang out a chapter I end up rewriting it five times because it ends up crappy. RAWR. … And yet even as I say that I realize that nine chapters in nine days is pretty damn speedy. XD -conflicted-


	10. Chapter 10

By mid-morning, the sun had burned the fog away from Libitina's beaches and the humid jungle air was already becoming oppressive. The island echoed with a cacophony of bird calls and shrieking insects, but the din failed to effect Sanji as it previously had. He barely even registered all the noise, so caught up in his own thoughts as he ran full-tilt through the jungle.

He had been going at that pace for at least an hour. His legs burned. He could feel blood seeping from the cuts in his thigh, the overall sting of the many insignificant injuries he had obtained. The rough terrain made running a challenge, but rather than slowing he pushed himself harder, willing himself to run faster, telling himself over and over that it wasn't much farther, though the jungle seemed endless.

He had to hurry, he had no other choice; despite his best efforts to keep Zoro awake the swordsman had lapsed into a disturbing sleep, his breathing so shallow Sanji had to concentrate to feel it against his back.

So Sanji kept running despite the pain in his legs, and despite the need for a chance to catch his breath.

Trees flashed by, merely dark blurs in a dark landscape, and the unchanging scenery provided a pang of hopelessness. Could he have taken a wrong turn somewhere? He no longer had the map; it had been in his pack and that was still in the cave somewhere far behind him, so he couldn't check his course.

Stupid, _stupid! _What kind of idiot leaves their map behind? Sanji cursed at himself bitterly, and for a moment he failed to notice how the jungle had changed. The jungle floor was slightly softer underfoot, the ground cover more grassy and thin, foliage rustled by a light breeze. But Sanji hadn't felt a real breeze since he entered the jungle...

Sanji blinked and then lifted his gaze to look straight ahead. There, just ahead of him beyond the trees was a streak of blinding white, bright sunlight reflecting off pristine sand. Now that he was paying attention, Sanji could hear the wash of waves over the din of his surroundings.

Sanji made a sound that could have been a laugh as he stumbled on, trying not to trip. A few more yards and he was stepping free of the jungle and suddenly standing on soft sand, momentarily blinded by the sunlight and ruffled by a strong sea breeze. He'd never been so grateful to feel sea spray in his life.

Visible eye narrowed against the bright sunlight, Sanji scanned the beach, and to his growing relief he could see the Thousand Sunny anchored just offshore a short distance down the beach from where he stood. There were figures moving around on the lawn.

He started running that way, yelling as loud as he could for someone's attention.

On the Sunny, already preparing the Mini Merry to head to shore to start the search for Sanji and Zoro, the rest of the crew was startled to hear the cook's voice over the sound of the ocean. It was Luffy who rushed to the railing and spotted the pair on the beach, but his happiness at seeing his nakama dried up when he heard what Sanji was saying. He was yelling for help.

"Chopper!" The captain whirled and startled the little reindeer. "Someone's hurt!"

Chopper's eyes flew wide and he immediately turned to run to Franky and the Mini Merry.

~ ;3 ~

Sanji finally stopped yelling when he saw the small boat rushing toward shore, and sank to his knees in the warm sand to catch his breath, his throat burning from screaming. He didn't put Zoro down yet, though he knew help was coming. He just... couldn't.

The Mini Merry reached the shallows and Chopper and Luffy vaulted onto the beach to rush to their nakama, Luffy's sandaled feet kicking up sand as he ran. Chopper was already in his human form when he reached Sanji and he skidded to a stop to kneel down to the blond. "What happened?" The question was directed at Sanji, but the doctor's eyes were fixed on Zoro.

"This plant thing--" Sanji began, but stopped when Chopper carefully lifted Zoro from his back. In his larger form, the doctor was able to lift the swordsman like he weighed nothing, and the sight of Zoro's unconscious and bloody form laying in the doctor's arms made Sanji's throat close up.

Chopper gave Sanji a brief look before turning away to hurry to the Mini Merry.

Luffy was still at Sanji's side and he offered the blond a hand, startling Sanji back to reality with the gesture. His eyes flickered up to Luffy's face and he took his captain's hand, simply because he was too tired to stand up without it, and the two of them followed quickly after Chopper to return to the ship.

~ ;3 ~

"Oh my god, what happened?" Nami gasped as Chopper rushed by her toward the infirmary. The doctor didn't reply to her question, but Sanji stopped long enough to make a fast apology and say they would explain later before he followed Chopper out of sight.

Luffy was unable to answer the questioning looks the rest of his crew sent his way; he knew as little as they did about what had happened. He hadn't gotten a chance to ask. So they were stuck with waiting, wondering what was going on, all eyes on the closed infirmary door.

In the infirmary, Chopper settled Zoro on a bed and worked to cut the makeshift bandages away from the swordsman's shoulder and leg to examine his wounds. Sanji did what he could to help, which wasn't much. Mostly he just passed Chopper whatever tool he needed and gave the doctor space to work.

"Now tell me exactly what happened," Chopper said, without looking at Sanji.

Sanji raked a hand through his hair and and hissed out a breath. "It was yesterday, in the jungle. We found this clearing and he started saying something was wrong" - he gestured vaguely - "and we ended up in a fight. I didn't see what happened because I left the clearing. He stayed behind, and when I realized he wasn't following me I went back for him, but when I got there he was just... laying there. This _plant_ did something to him. I've never seen anything like it. It was huge, and it had these weird vines that dripped this disgusting black gunk."

"Poison," Chopper murmured, almost to himself as he started carefully cleaning the wounds in Zoro's shoulder.

"Can you help him?" Sanji asked quietly.

Chopper paused, very briefly, then set to wrapping Zoro's shoulder in clean bandages. "I'm the doctor." And that was apparently all the answer Sanji would get, because Chopper added, "You should go; I have to concentrate now."

"I'm fine. Let me--"

Chopper cut him off and looked at the blond over his shoulder. "No, Sanji. I'm sorry, but you can't help right now. Go and take care of yourself, all right?" He said this firmly but gently, brooking no argument without being harsh.

Sanji's shoulders sagged as he gave a resigned nod, then turned and left the room.

The rest of the crew had gathered outside the door to the infirmary, waiting for someone to emerge, but the volley of questions they all wished to launch was stopped when they saw Sanji. Battered and bloody, the cook looked completely exhausted.

"Sanji, you alright?" Luffy asked, voice full of concern.

Sanji just nodded and turned to walk away, needing to rid himself of Zoro's blood, but stilled when a hand settled lightly on his shoulder. He blinked and glanced back. "Nami-san?"

The navigator offered him a tentative smile of reassurance. "He'll be okay, Sanji."

For a moment, Sanji was struck silent. Was Nami trying to... comfort him? He didn't get a chance to finish processing the situation before Nami was turning to the rest of the crew and issuing orders, "Usopp and Luffy, help Sanji get patched up. Robin and I will do the cooking tonight" - she pretended not to hear Sanji's objections to this - "and everyone else, do anything Chopper says. Other than that just hold the ship down. We can all find out what happened later on."

Usopp and Luffy ducked by her to take Sanji's arms and half-dragged him away as he continued to protest Nami and Robin doing any sort of work. But his struggling was futile and soon the blond gave up and walked with his captain and the sniper to the men's quarters to get cleaned up and get some fresh clothes.

Once Sanji was out of sight, and Nami was sure he wouldn't hear them, she turned to the only other person left standing outside the infirmary door. Robin was watching the door in silence, and Nami let out a tense breath. "You think he'll be all right?"

Robin blinked faintly, as if jarred from her thoughts, and turned to give Nami her full attention. "We can hope, navigator-san," she said. "And have faith in Chopper."

Nami nodded, because she had nothing else to say, and then she and Robin left the hall in silence.

~ ;3 ~

Later, after Sanji had relayed a brief version of what had happened to ease everyone's curiosity, the crew - save for Chopper and Zoro - was gathered in the dining hall. The silence that followed Sanji's story was thick and almost uncomfortable, everyone seeming lost in their own thoughts, distracted from the rest of the group. Not one face lacked a worried cast.

Sanji exhaled a slow breath and got up from his seat, muttering something about needing a cigarette as he left the room. He had to drop by the men's quarters to get a new pack, since he'd left his other one in his suit jacket and that had been forgotten back in the cave. But after he'd retrieved his cigarettes he found himself wandering back to the infirmary without even thinking about what he would do once he got there.

He stared at the door in silence, his expression unsure. He wanted to know what was happening, why it was taking so long, but he knew he shouldn't disturb Chopper if he was working...

Finally the blond made a frustrated sound and just took a spot on the floor to one side of the infirmary door, one leg stretched out before him and the other drawn up to his chest. He drew a cigarette and his lighter out, then set the pack on the floor next to him, sure he'd be going through a few more as he waited.

As he lifted his lighter, the scene from the clearing played over in his head; his annoyance, his fight with Zoro, and then the swordsman glaring at him after Sanji had landed a heavy blow and effectively ended the fight.

Sanji's hand stopped before he even lit his cigarette, lighter held up but unused. The scene replayed again and Sanji's visible eye widened as realization hit him.

He'd kicked Zoro into that thing. He'd thrown him right into it. And then he'd just left, and Zoro had...

The cigarette fell from Sanji's lips and rolled a few inches on the floor before coming to a stop. It was his fault.

The back of Sanji's head connected sharply with the wall behind him and he cursed at the empty hall. If he'd just fucking _listened, _then none of this would have happened!

"Shit," Sanji muttered, his face in his hands. What was he supposed to do? Apologize? What if he never got the chance to?

The silence in the hallway was deafening, and after a few moments Sanji exhaled a slow breath and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes and letting his arms fall to his sides. He was so damn tired...

It was Nami who found him there a short time later, having herself decided to drop by the infirmary to see if anything had changed, and she was surprised to see Sanji there. She just sighed when she realized the blond had dozed off in his vigil.

For a time she was silent, just standing in the hall lost in thought and watching Sanji sleep, but then by some impulse she turned and left. She returned quickly with a blanket draped over one arm, and she walked with light steps to Sanji's side to carefully lay the blanket over the cook's sleeping form without waking him.

In silence she took a spot on the floor next to the sleeping blond, her legs drawn up and chin on her knees. It wouldn't hurt, she thought to herself, to keep him company. At least for a little while.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

:\ I really struggled with this chapter, and I'm not exactly happy with how it came out: I had a much different scene in my head when I started. None of the characters feel right to me. ._. -mope-

If you see any typos I missed, could you please copy the sentence into a review for me? :3 Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

For the crew of the Thousand Sunny, time seemed to pass at an agonizing crawl, waiting for news from Chopper. The doctor had been holed up in the infirmary for nearly three hours and hadn't stepped out to give any updates.

Each of them found their own distractions; Brooke was playing music almost mindlessly in the background, Usopp and Luffy were sitting near the musician with Flower silently, and Franky sat by Robin as the archaeologist poured over the old journal from the Libitina village. Nami had wandered after Sanji, so no one was quite sure where they were at that moment.

Luffy's shoulders sagged as he watched Flower swish across the floor, seemingly doing its best to distract Luffy from whatever was bothering him. But its efforts seemed to help little and it swished sadly.

Robin looked up from the worn pages briefly to glance at Luffy as he fidgeted, obviously worried but showing great restraint by sitting still. She said nothing as she turned the next page to find another sketch, but this one made her pause and smile faintly; it was a faded drawing of Flower, or one of its kind. Maybe she had found something to take the captain's mind off of worrying, at least for a few minutes.

The archaeologist rose from her chair and crossed the room to her captain, quietly lowering herself to take a seat on the floor next to him. He looked a little startled, but Robin just held the journal out to him. "Look, it's Flower-san."

Luffy eyed the page and the carefully-drawn sketch of a little dancing bloom in mid-twirl, and he smiled slowly. "Hey Flower, look, it's you!" He set the book on the floor and the little white creature scuttled over to see, walking right onto the page without hesitation.

Usopp leaned forward, hands on his crossed ankles to eye the picture. "That's pretty good. Where'd you get that, Robin?"

Robin watched as Flower did an elaborate, excited dance at the image of one of its kin, like it expected the sketch to join it. "In an abandoned village, on the island," the archaeologist said with a slight inclination of her head as she watched Flower. It was doing an almost-frantic sort of spin on the page, its spindly arms twirling.

Luffy tipped his head and frowned at Flower. It seemed... agitated. "What's wrong?"

Flower gave what was quite clearly an exasperated ruffle of its petal-skirt and gestured with its delicate arms to the neat scrawl of handwriting on the page.

Intrigued, Robin reached out for the book, and Flower moved onto her hand as she picked it up. She set the book on her knee and scanned over the page, the words scribbled around the illustration. Her sharp intake of breath startled both Usopp and Luffy, but Flower managed to look pleased.

Robin's dark eyes snapped up to Luffy abruptly. "We have to take this to Chopper."

~ ;3 ~

Sanji woke with a start at the sound of the door next to him opening, his head snapping up and making Nami jump. Sanji glanced at her briefly, then at the blanket that covered him, and she just flashed a quick smile before getting to her feet. Sanji shook off his brief shock and turned to see Chopper stepping out of the infirmary, the doctor's expression dashing any hopeful thoughts either of the people waiting in the hallway might have had.

"What is it?" Sanji asked at the same moment as Nami's, "Is everything all right?"

Chopper cleared his throat as he looked up at their expectant and worried faces, and he sniffled. "I've tried everything I could think of," he said quietly, then shook his head, "but he just seems to be getting worse."

Sanji seemed to pale, his visible eye widening slightly. "Don't you have some kind of antidote? Something to--"

"I've tried everything," Chopper repeated. "But these plants... I don't know how to treat him. I can't just start giving him medicines just to see if they work; I don't know what effect they would have, especially with a poison I know nothing about." He stepped back to allow the pair past him into the infirmary, and they edged inside quickly.

Sanji swallowed thickly as he looked to the side of the room where Zoro lay in bed, pale and his breathing shallow. A blanket was pulled up to his waist, the bandages around his shoulder and chest standing out start white. Sanji was briefly tempted to pull the blanket up further, because though there was a fine sheen of sweat over Zoro's forehead, he would shiver sporadically as if from cold. As Sanji watched him, the swordsman tensed and his head jerked on the pillow.

Nami looked to Chopper quickly. "What was that?"

Chopper was at one of the tables, standing in a chair and looking through a book he'd already been through at least three times. "He's in pain," he said. "I gave him something for it, but it didn't... it didn't help." He gave a hiccup and swiped an arm over his eyes.

"Chopper..." Nami bit her lower lip, then moved to the doctor's side.

"I should be able to help him," Chopper said, as if to himself, as he tried to keep from crying. "I'm the doctor! That's what I'm... supposed to do.."

Nami knelt down and wrapped an arm around Chopper, saying nothing. Across the room, Sanji knelt by the bed and watched Zoro with an unreadable expression.

Chopper couldn't help him? Sanji couldn't seem to get his head around that thought, just repeating it over and over. He couldn't bring himself to move, or speak, just watching Zoro almost without seeing him. But if even Chopper couldn't do anything, couldn't somehow fix this, then Zoro was going to...

Sanji's throat was so tight it hurt, but he forced himself to swallow and shake his head. "What're you doing?" He sounded choked, even to himself, and Nami glanced over in silence.

"You're not supposed to die like this. Not after everything else you've lived through!" Sanji snapped harshly, hands fisting in the material of the blanket that covered the swordsman. "You can't let yourself get killed by _poison,_ not because of some shitty plant! Not--" His grip on the blanket loosened and he let out a breath, shaking his head. "Not because of me..."

Nami's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but she never got the chance to as the infirmary door was flung open, startling everyone and causing Sanji to launch to his feet. Robin rushed into the room, closely followed by Luffy. Franky, Usopp and Brooke stayed in the doorway, trying not to crowd the space further.

"Doctor-san, you need to see this," Robin said hurriedly as she set the book she carried on the table in front of Chopper, already open to the correct page. Nami straightened and moved back to give him room as he turned a confused look on the journal.

It only took a few seconds before Chopper gasped and grabbed the book, re-reading the page with disbelief written over his expression. "Then this--?"

Luffy was grinning so widely Nami thought it must hurt. He held out his hand and set Flower on the table, and Chopper looked at the tiny creature, stunned. Then he abruptly jumped off his chair and started running around the room, grabbing bottles and different items out of cabinets and off tables.

Robin ushered Nami, Luffy and Sanji from the room so they wouldn't be in Chopper's way, and once they were in the hall Sanji turned a confused expression to her. "What's going on?"

The archaeologist offered him a brilliant smile, and Luffy leapt forward with an ecstatic, "We found a cure!"

Nami and Sanji had identical bewildered expressions, but Nami caught on quickly and her mouth fell open. "That little dancing plant?!"

"Flower!" Luffy said, jumping in place and looking elated. "Flower's gonna help Chopper!"

"The journal," Robin said, trying to clarify. "I had been reading it again and came across a drawing that looked like Flower-san, and when I showed it to captain-san, Flower grew very excited. It was strange, so I read the page that seemed to have caught its attention and in the notes was something about _'_the giant's venom_'_ and how the only known cure came from small white blooms that danced as if possessed of life."

"So, Flower!" Luffy cheered.

"Then it's the cure?" Sanji said, sounding stunned.

"In Chopper's capable hands, that is more than likely the case," Robin said, her normally calm demeanor overtaken by outright excitement.

"Everything's going to be-- Zoro's going to be okay-?" Before Sanji even knew what he was doing, he caught Robin in a tight hug that had the archaeologist's eyes widening. It was only a split second before Sanji jerked back, horrified at himself. "Robin-chan, I'm so sorry, I-- _oof!"_

His apology was stopped when Nami hugged him around the chest hard enough to knock the wind out of him, then abandoned him to give Luffy a high-five.

Sanji looked dazed, and Robin had to laugh. "Perfectly all right," she assured him, and lightly patted his arm before turning to a grinning Franky.

Sanji watched his nakama celebrating and after a moment, his mouth crooked in a smile. Then he reached down to find his cigarettes and paused when he remembered he had left them on the floor with the blanket.

He looked down just in time to see Luffy stomp them flat, and his mouth fell open. "Luffy!"

The captain paused, glanced down to where his sandaled foot rested on the smashed cigarette pack, then flailed and made a break for it. And Sanji lunged after him, filled with an almost overwhelming relief at knowing that soon, Zoro was going to be all right.

He would have to question that odd flutter in his chest later.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

Last line made me gigglesnort. (Did I say "subtle hints"? ….. OHLOL :D) And eek! I didn't notice how short this update was until after it was posted. o_O;; SUPER SORRY!

Epic thanks to my shiny, spifftastic, awesomely-win beta Lolo Popoki for, well, being my beta. 8D This was the first chapter she beta'd for me! … -clings to Lolo Popoki- :D Mmmm, new beta smell~! -shotshot-

P.S. I'm currently working on something else, a possible new multi-chapter. :v Updates on that soon.


	12. Chapter 12

Chopper fidgeted with his hat as he left the infirmary, lightly closing the door behind him. He made his way down the hallway and through the ship until he reached the dining hall where the rest of the crew was having a subdued dinner, obviously waiting for news from the doctor as they had been for the last hour.

Chopper stepped into the room and everyone fell silent, all eyes turning to the little reindeer. His face was a grim mask, cast in the shadow of the brim of his hat, and even Luffy seemed to hold his breath as he waited for the doctor to speak.

Finally, Chopper couldn't take it anymore and he flashed a triumphant grin. "His fever broke!"

Luffy leapt up so fast he knocked his chair over, but he ignored it completely as he charged across the room to try and hug the life out of Chopper. Everyone else had all started chattering at once, their simultaneous questions turning into a din that Chopper couldn't quite decipher. So he wiggled free of Luffy's grasp and waved his arms for attention.

"Shush!" Chopper looked over everyone's expectant faces. "The antidote worked, and Zoro's resting now." He walked over to hop up onto a chair and set a small bottle on the table for everyone to see. The bottle was maybe five inches tall and filled halfway with a gold-colored liquid. "This is it."

Everyone leaned forward to study the bottle, and Luffy tried to poke it, so Nami smacked him in the back of the head. "Don't break it!"

Robin carefully picked up the bottle and swirled the liquid inside, watching it coat the glass and shimmer. It was about the consistency of water. "And this is from Flower-san?"

"Actually, Flower made this gold dust, and I mixed it with--" Luffy cut Chopper off by diving onto the table with a worried expression at the mention of his little friend.

"Where's Flower now?" Luffy asked quickly.

"Oh." Chopper blinked and lifted his hat up, reaching beneath it and feeling around. He made a light sound and withdrew his hand, then carefully settled Flower on the dining table. The little creature looked slightly dazed, maybe a bit tired, but otherwise unharmed.

Luffy whooped and scooped Flower up to run a lap around the dining room.

"How's Zoro doing?" Nami asked, ignoring Luffy's raucous noise in the background as she focused on the doctor.

"Better," Chopper said. "But I want to watch him, just in case. So someone should be with him at all times." He nodded as he spoke and Robin carefully handed him the bottle of gold liquid.

Sanji frowned faintly after the doctor spoke and inquired, "So... who's with him now?"

A moment of silence. Then Chopper shrieked and leapt off his chair to run out of the room in a panic.

Everyone watched him go, and then eyed the empty doorway until they no longer heard the doctor's retreating voice. Once that was over Nami raised her brows and turned to the group.

"So," the navigator said, "who wants a shift watching Zoro sleep?"

"We do that all the time," Usopp snickered, and Luffy laughed behind him.

"Chopper gets a shift, of course," Nami said, studying her fingernails. "I'll take a shift as well."

Sanji could have swooned. "Nami-san is so kind!"

"And Sanji can have a shift." Nami gave a sharp nod and smiled at the blond across from her, who had shut up rather abruptly.

"Me?" Sanji blinked rapidly, sitting up straighter. "Nami-san, what--"

"You think it's a bad idea?" Nami asked, feigning disappointment, and Sanji back-peddled quickly, "No, it's not that, it's just--"

"Don't you want to help?" the navigator asked, and Sanji's shoulders sagged.

"Of course, Nami-san," he said finally.

Nami grinned and got to her feet. "Perfect! Then let's go see what Chopper needs us to do." She gestured for Sanji, and then led the way out of the dining room.

Once they departed, Robin folded her hands on the table and studied the empty doorway. The look in Nami's eye just then... what was the navigator up to? It was like she knew something the rest of them didn't...

At the head of the table, Luffy finally stopped running around and frowned at the present crew as if a thought had just struck him. "Hey!" He set his hands on his hips, and Flower mimicked the pose where it stood on the captain's head. "Why didn't Nami offer _me _a shift watching Zoro?"

"Probably because you can't hold still for more than a few seconds at a shot," Usopp commented, and Luffy looked offended.

"I so can!" the captain said, and the sniper cocked a brow at him so he flopped into a chair and crossed his arms tightly over his chest. "I'll show you!"

Usopp started a countdown in his head, giving the captain a generous sixty seconds, which ticked by slowly. Luffy started fidgeting when Usopp hit forty, and just before the sniper reached the thirty second mark the captain jumped to his feet and huffed. "I'm gonna take Flower outside," Luffy said, and then he was gone.

Usopp folded his arms smugly and Brook laughed, "Thirty seconds."

"Commendable," Robin said with a half-smile, and sipped her drink.

~ ;3 ~

In the infirmary, the lights were low. Chopper shushed Sanji and Nami when they came to the door, so they quietly stepped into the room. The doctor was carefully putting the bottle of gold liquid he had carried to the dining room in a stand that held six others just like it, placed on a table near the head of the bed.

Nami edged over to stand next to Chopper, speaking in a whisper, "Sanji and I came to see what you need us to do when we have our shifts watching Zoro."

Chopper blinked at her. "You guys?" he whispered back, sounding surprised, and when the navigator nodded he quickly thought over anything they should know. "Uhm... Well, basically let him rest, and if he starts to look worse, give him one of these." He pointed to the bottles on the table. "But you have to shake it so it's mixed properly," he added, almost as an afterthought. "And if he wakes up he can have a little water, but nothing more than that; there's some internal damage caused by the poison." He paused, thought, then nodded. "That's it."

Nami nodded her understanding and then stepped back so Chopper could hop down off the chair he had been standing on. Her eyes flicked to Sanji and she had to cover a smile when she noticed the blond still standing uncomfortably by the door, as if he were debating a hasty retreat.

"Sanji-kun?" she whispered, just loud enough to gain his attention. "Take the first shift, okay? Chopper's been in here for a while, I bet he's hungry."

Sanji stiffened visibly at the request. "Now?"

"Yes, now," Nami said as she ushered Chopper toward the door. "You heard Chopper; he has to be watched at all times! So, start watching." She nudged Sanji away from the door, having to physically dislodge him from the spot before she and Chopper could slip out of the room.

Just before the door shut, Nami leaned in and offered Sanji a brief smile and a little farewell wave, then she was gone.

Sanji just stood in the middle of the room for a moment, staring at the closed door. Finally he hissed out a breath and moved to take the chair Chopper had vacated, pointedly keeping his gaze on the bottles of gold liquid the doctor had left.

Nami had left him there. She couldn't have any idea what had happened, or why he was so reluctant to be alone with the swordsman, but he couldn't help wondering why Nami had volunteered _him, _of all people, to take watch. He and Zoro weren't exactly the best of friends.

And what if the swordsman woke up? Sanji knew he had to apologize for what happened, and wasn't _that_ going to be fun. He didn't have any idea what he was going to say. _'_Sorry I almost got you eaten by a plant_' _probably wasn't going to cover it.

Sanji exhaled slowly and set his elbows on the table, resting his head in his hands and listening to the faint sound of Zoro's breathing.

He had to think of something good, and he had to do it before the swordsman woke up.

~ ;3 ~

It was much later, when Nami and Robin headed to the women's quarters, that the archaeologist finally found a moment to ask the navigator about her motives. No one could overhear them here, and Robin couldn't help being curious. "Navigator-san?"

Nami paused just inside the door to turn to the other woman, already having a pretty good idea of what Robin was going to say. "You wanna know about why I asked Sanji to take a shift, right?"

The archaeologist nodded and moved to take a seat on one of the small couches. Nami walked over to join her, folding her arms once she was seated. "I'm worried about him," the navigator said, frowning faintly.

Robin blinked. That was unexpected. "Why is that?"

"When we were in the infirmary, before you guys found out about Flower, he was acting really weird." At Robin's questioning look, Nami shrugged and said, "He seemed really... sad. He kept saying how Zoro 'couldn't die because of him.'"

Robin's eyes widened a fraction. "What could he have meant by that?"

"I'm not sure," Nami said, her tone distracted. "But I'm hoping with them being together in there, if Zoro wakes up they might get a chance to talk." Robin inclined her head, smiling a secret little smile, and Nami looked at her oddly. "What?"

"That's a very sweet thing for you to do, navigator-san," the archaeologist said, and Nami sat up straighter, a light blush creeping over her cheeks. She got to her feet and brushed her hands over her shirt, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from the material.

"They're both too stubborn to fix anything themselves. I'm just pushing them in the right direction," Nami said, waving a dismissive hand. "They can pay me back later."

"Of course," Robin said, but kept on smiling as the navigator hurried to change into her nightgown. She didn't press the issue further, instead letting Nami brush it off. But just before they both settled down and the lights were turned off, Robin sent the navigator a brief look and said, "I'm sure they would both be very grateful."

"Oh, you shush!" Nami griped as she pulled the blankets up over her head, and Robin stifled a laugh and went to bed.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

My god this update gave me trouble. o_o Like, SO MUCH trouble. The scene at the end with Robin and Nami got re-written 34567898765432 times. XDD I actually turned out pretty happy with it though... Yay~!

And once again, thanks to Lolo Popoki, my awesome-sauce beta: She proof-reads! She gives me her opinion! And she totally gets to read these updates before you guys! :D -bricked to death-

P.S. Your update for the story I hinted at in the last chapter: It's probably gonna be an AU! :'D


	13. Chapter 13

It was disorienting, to say the least, waking up in a room and having no idea how you got there. This was the plight Zoro faced when he managed to drag himself back to consciousness and the first thing he saw was the ceiling of... the infirmary. Well he was pretty sure anyway; it was dark and his vision was a little fuzzy, but he knew that ceiling particularly well.

He'd woken up before this a few times. He had stinted memories of seeing Chopper once, though that didn't surprise him, but he remembered seeing someone else in those disjointed moments of wakefulness; Sanji sitting nearby, giving him the strangest look. Something like worry, maybe a little fear... He hadn't been able to stay awake long enough to analyze the expression.

Now as he lay in the small bed in the infirmary, staring blankly up at that familiar ceiling, he tried to get his thoughts in order. Somehow he'd ended up back on the Sunny – he had known that before he even opened his eyes because he could feel the ship rocking gently – but he couldn't remember getting back. Actually, the last thing he remembered was Sanji carrying him though the jungle...

Zoro would have groaned if he had the energy. The cook had _carried_ him back to the ship? Oh, that was great for the ego.

A noise nearby caught his attention then, putting an end to his internal monologue. He turned his head – which really shouldn't have been as difficult as it was – and was startled to see Sanji reclining in a straight-backed chair near the bed. The blond lifted a hand to rub the kinks out of his neck, muttering something about never falling asleep in chairs again, and finally shifted his attention to the bed.

Zoro was pretty sure the cook stopped breathing for a second. "Holy shit," Sanji managed, sounding oddly loud in the dark room despite the fact that he spoke just above a whisper.

"That bad, huh?" Zoro croaked, and grimaced at how scratchy his throat felt.

"Didn't expect you to wake up yet," Sanji said, quickly collecting himself. "Chopper said you'd probably be out for a few days at least."

"Che," was Zoro's response to that. He took a moment to take stock of himself as Sanji got to his feet and stepped out of his line of sight.

He felt strangely numb, which he attributed to whatever medicine Chopper had given him while he was out, but he could still feel an odd pressure in his chest that almost made it hard to breathe. He only noticed the bandages around his shoulder when he caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye, and when he tried to lift a hand to touch the material, his arm refused to move.

After switching on a second lamp, Sanji drifted back into view and reclaimed his spot in the chair. With the extra light, Zoro could see the clock on the wall read four am.

"Chopper said you can have water, if you want it," Sanji said as he lifted a glass into view, though he sounded distracted for some reason. But the thought of water was appealing enough to keep Zoro from dwelling on the cook's weird behavior and he nodded instead of trying to talk again.

There was silence for a moment as the pair just stared each other, and then realization hit Sanji and he asked, "Er... can you...?"

"If I could move, I'd be out of this bed already," Zoro managed in a rasp.

Sanji hissed out a breath and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. After a brief hesitation, he slid an arm beneath Zoro's shoulders and sat him up carefully.

Zoro lifted a brow at the treatment and Sanji scowled. "Shut up."

Deciding against commenting and making this any _more_ embarrassing, Zoro fixed his attention on the glass when it was lifted to his lips and took a swallow of the offered water. He let out a breath through his nose when the cool liquid hit his burning throat, and Sanji remained blessedly silent until Zoro had drained half the glass.

Once he was lying down again and Sanji was putting the glass back on the table, Zoro took a few slow breaths and coughed lightly, distracted by that odd pressure on his chest. That and the fact that he was fucking _freezing_ made him less than comfortable despite how nice the bed felt.

Sanji shifted in his chair, looking around the dimly-lit room aimlessly. "Listen, Zoro" – the swordsman probably would have questioned the uncommon use of his name, but he was busy wondering why it was so hard to breathe – "I wanted to talk to you about– You're shivering."

"Weird thing to want to talk about," Zoro commented, then clamped his mouth shut and willed his teeth to stop chattering. Why the hell wasn't Sanji acting cold, anyway?

"No, you _are _shivering," Sanji said irritably.

"S'cold," Zoro said, because really that should be obvious. But Sanji muttered a curse and got to his feet again to cross the room, returning a moment later and retaking his spot on the edge of the bed. At first Zoro made no comment when he once again found himself helped into a sitting position, which sent a sharp stab of pain through his chest, but his tolerance ground to a halt when Sanji held a narrow glass bottle up to his face.

"What is that?" the swordsman asked suspiciously as he eyed the bottle of gold-colored liquid. It smelled harsh, sharp and sort of sweet.

"The antidote Chopper made with this gold dust from Luffy's dancing plant," Sanji said, and when all that earned was a look that suggested he had sprouted a second head, the blond rolled his visible eye and shifted his arm behind Zoro's shoulders. "I'll explain later. Just drink it."

Zoro bit back his response when a light hand at the back of his neck tipped his head back, and finally gave up and reluctantly opened his mouth. Chopper had made it, so it had to work, right?

He nearly choked when he tasted the stuff, but drained the contents of the bottle dutifully; it eased the sting in his throat on contact, which he had to admit was a welcome relief.

Once it was empty Sanji set the bottle aside on the chair by the bed. As he turned back something in Zoro's expression must have given him an idea though because he asked, "Bad?" with a hint of amusement.

Zoro considered the question with a faint frown, swallowing again to clear his mouth of the stuff. "Not really," he said, contemplative, "sort of like... whiskey and... honey."

Sanji made a sound that could have been a laugh and Zoro gave him a sidelong look when the blond removed his supportive hand from between the swordsman's shoulder blades. Zoro decided his condition must be improving when he didn't immediately fall over, leaning forward slightly to preserve his balance.

Sanji had that nervous expression again, Zoro noted as he glanced over at the blond. Probably wanted to smoke, but Chopper wouldn't let him while he was in the infirmary, the swordsman reasoned drowsily as he let his head tip forward. Must be why he was acting so strange... Damn that medicine had a kick...

Sanji got to his feet and dragged a hand through his hair roughly, walking to the other side of the room. He had gone from being totally sure of himself – he had scripted everything he wanted to say perfectly in his head – to having no idea what he was doing in the span of ten minutes. Just because Zoro had woken up, even though that was what he had been waiting for!

Sanji set his hands on the countertop against the wall, his back to the bed, trying to get his thoughts organized. It was now or never right? Finally he took a steadying breath and straightened up. "Listen, Zoro, I--"

It was a soft snore from somewhere behind him that had Sanji pausing and turning to look at the bed again. He mad a startled sound when he saw Zoro had fallen asleep _sitting up, _and that he had just wasted his time trying to piece together a suitable apology when the swordsman wasn't even listening.

Expression turning mildly annoyed, Sanji crossed the room again and bent down to eye Zoro, who sat slightly hunched over with his chin against his chest, dead to the world.

"This is the thanks I get," Sanji muttered to the room at large, then shook his head at himself and carefully eased the swordsman back to settle his head on the pillow again.

Zoro didn't even flinch.

With a quiet sigh Sanji pulled the blankets up to the other man's shoulders – not because he cared or anything – and went back to his uncomfortable chair, resigned to spending the rest of his night torturing himself while he watched Zoro sleep like he didn't have a care in the world.

Somewhere, Sanji thought miserably as he watched the slow rise and fall of the swordsman's chest, a deity was laughing at him. He just knew it.

! ~ ;3 ~ !

o_o I am so much better at action scenes than I am with scenes like this chapter. -epic face desk- Forgive me if this was totally blah. D:

And as always, many, many thanks go to my (for the win) beta Lolo Popoki for not letting me post crappy crap. XD You keep me from being pitch-forked to death by angry fangirls, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Your update for what might be coming after Libitina: o^o start thinking _supernatural. _Merely fleshing out my ideas right now, so no big promises just yet, but writing _has_ been started. __

P.S.I got this like, MONSTER confidence boost from a conversation I had with TheDoublemintTwins11. XD Seriously, you have no idea how awesome you are. Like, that much awesome shouldn't be able to fit in one (or two) person (people). It should be illegal. -glomp- :'D


	14. Chapter 14

In a show of Sanji's marvelous luck, Zoro's second day of recovery played out much the same as his first. The swordsman woke up again shortly after Sanji had taken over watch from Nami in the evening, but only stayed coherent long enough to begrudgingly eat the soup Sanji brought him – Chopper had insisted that he wasn't up to solids yet, much to the swordsman's chagrin – before needing another dose of the antidote, which dropped him in record time.

By the third day, Sanji was looking slightly haggard. Days of anxiety coupled with long nights of watch had worn him down, and now as he stood by the infirmary door watching an energetic Luffy introduce Flower to Zoro, he wondered if he would ever get the chance to make his apology.

"... And Chopper finally decided that it'd be safe for me to come see you so I thought I'd bring Flower along because Flower saved your life." Luffy concluded his mind-numbingly long speech with a wide grin.

The blank expression on Zoro's face didn't seem to faze the captain. Probably because its impact was lessened by the flower currently dancing merrily in the swordsman's green hair.

"So are you done resting yet?" Luffy asked, "because we're all gonna head to the beach to say goodbye."

"Say goodbye?" Zoro parroted, and Luffy's smile lost just a touch of its brightness.

The captain scratched the back of his neck and glanced down at the floor. "Well, we're gonna be leaving today and Flower can't really come with us..." He looked up and quickly added, "not that we don't want Flower to come, but... well..." His shoulders slumped and he sighed.

"Ah." Zoro reached up and took the little plant off his head, setting it on the bed next to his leg. It looked a little droopy, about the same as their captain at that moment. _Wilted_ was a fitting term for the pair.

"I'll go with, then," the swordsman said off-handedly, and Luffy brightened a bit at the support. "And I'm sure curly-brow will come too," Zoro added with a pointed look at the blond across the room.

Sanji lifted a shoulder and let it drop in an absent half-shrug, taking an unlit cigarette from the corner of his mouth. "If it means I get a moment away from _you, _then fine."

Luffy, now grinning again and seeming restored to some of his usual cheer, scooped Flower off the bed and hopped off the chair.

"Cool. I'll tell Chopper you want to come along." And then he was gone, bolting from the room in a blur.

Zoro almost wished he could see the doctor's face when he heard his patient wanted to go traipsing around on the same island that had landed him in his sick bed to begin with, but he decided to lessen Chopper's inevitable fit by staying right where he was and _not _following Luffy out, lest he incur the doctor's wrath. And sedatives.

He only noticed Sanji's intent stare after a moment, and looked away from the door to give the cook a scowl. Three days of his weird looks and behavior had Zoro rather on-edge and unsure, which wasn't a feeling he particularly enjoyed.

"What?" Zoro fairly snapped, hoping for some sort of normal reaction from the blond, some of the usual hostility. But Sanji just fished his lighter out of his pocket and straightened away from the wall he had been leaning against, making a non-committal sound and leaving the infirmary – and one disgruntled swordsman – without another word.

~ ;3 ~

After three days stuck in the infirmary, even Libitina's beach was a welcome change, sun-drenched and windy. The sea breeze was refreshing enough to keep the entire crew cool despite the high temperatures the island seemed to maintain.

Zoro took a moment to enjoy being outside as everyone gathered on the beach, Luffy walking ahead of the group with Flower perched on his shoulder. Usopp and Chopper, misty-eyed and sniffling, followed close behind Luffy as the captain walked up to the wind-ruffled flowering grasses that blanketed the beach ahead of the tree line.

The trio knelt down together as Luffy set Flower on the warm sand, the little plant doing a slow twirl once it was grounded before facing the three people looking down at it sadly.

"Wish you could come," Luffy said quietly, holding out a finger for Flower to wrap a spindly arm around.

"We really want you to," Usopp added as he leaned down a bit closer to the plant, and Chopper nodded quick agreement.

Flower's petal-skirts swayed slowly as it regarded the trio in its characteristic expressive silence, then it turned away from them and scuttled over to the grasses with their small flowers. It caught one of the blooms, a light yellow one, and broke it off just below the petals before hurrying back across the sand to stop in front of Luffy, Usopp and Chopper again. Flower lifted the little bloom up, then turned it over and plopped it onto its own head like a hat. A little yellow hat.

Luffy's grin was quick and wide and he tipped his own straw hat back on his head. "Like mine, right?" he asked, and Flower nodded as it swayed. "It suits you," Luffy decided with a laugh, and the slant of Flower's eyes made it seem like it was smiling back, though it didn't have a mouth.

Usopp smiled tentatively, sitting back on the sand, and Chopper fidgeted with his pink top hat. "You think Flower will be okay?" the doctor asked, "I mean, being alone here..."

"Flower's tough," Luffy said, though he didn't sound particularly sure. He's seen that Flower was more than capable of defending itself – it had proven that when it had squashed the plant-raptor's head – but still, being on this island all alone sounded awful.

"What do you think, Flower?" Usopp asked, "Will you be okay?"

At the question, Flower twitched uncertainly, looking between each of the faces of its friends. Its thready arms wiggled, its skirts ruffled, and then it turned and hurried across the sand to disappear into the grasses.

"Flower?" Luffy scanned the grasses quickly, getting to his feet. "Hey, Flower?"

Usopp stood as well, sighing sadly. "Maybe Flower just doesn't like goodbyes," he said, shoulders sagging.

"That's it then?" Chopper sniffled, swiping the back of his hand over his eyes and facing the grasses Flower had vanished into a moment before. "Goodbye, Flower..."

"Bye, Flower," Luffy added, very quietly, and then the three of them turned to head back to the rest of their crew, all sagging shoulders and defeated sighs.

They didn't make it back across the beach before Robin spoke up and got their attention, pointing past them and smiling faintly, "Captain-san, maybe you should look at this?"

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper all paused to peer back at the tree line, and their mouths fell open at the sight that greeted them. There, scattered among the dark grasses, was a whole pack of swishing orchid-like flowers of all different colors; whites and yellows and bright pinks and purples and reds, even a few that sported a mixture of a few colors, all swishing in their own way. And standing on the sand a little bit ahead of the group was a white bloom with a yellow wildflower hat on its head.

"Flower?" Usopp gaped.

"Flow-_ers_," Luffy corrected with a laugh and ran over to greet the herd of dancing plants, which all scuttled forward at the same time in an exited flurry of color to meet the pirates.

Standing a short distance away, Zoro smirked at the sight of the trio being overtaken by a floral curtain. Hell of a place, Libitina, he thought to himself. When the plants weren't trying to eat you, they were dancing all over you.

"I'd say that was the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Sanji mused as he stepped up next to the swordsman and calmly lit a cigarette, "but I've been with this crew too long for that to be true."

Zoro snorted and folded his arms over his chest, glancing to the blond briefly before looking back to Luffy and his fan club. There was a moment of silence, in which Chopper scooped up a few dancing flowers and ran over to show them to Robin, before Zoro spoke again, "What's been eating you, anyway?"

"Other than the wildlife?" Sanji exhaled a swirl of smoke and smirked at the swordsman's annoyed expression.

"You know what I mean," Zoro said irritably, and Sanji tapped ash off his cigarette, watching it fall to the white sand at his feet.

"Yeah." The blond sighed and slid his free hand into his pants pocket. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

Zoro eyed the other man, brows drawing together faintly. They were far enough from the rest of the crew that their conversation wouldn't be overheard, and Zoro thought maybe that was how Sanji wanted it. But what did the cook have to say that was so important? Especially to _him, _of all people?

"What is it?" Zoro prompted after a stretch of silence, in which Sanji just scowled at the sand as if it had personally offended him.

"Shut up a minute, will you?" Sanji hissed out a breath and then spoke before Zoro could snap at him, "I wanted to... apologize."

Zoro was effectively startled into silence. For about .2 seconds. "For what?" He was giving Sanji the have-you-lost-your-mind look again, and the blond had to concentrate on keeping his temper in check.

"For not listening to you, back in the jungle," Sanji said, drawing a hand back through his hair and somehow managing to avoid disturbing the fall that covered his left eye. "I didn't listen to you when you said something was wrong, and you ended up hurt because of me. So... I'm sorry."

Zoro turned to face him more fully at the admission, and Sanji kept his attention focused on the ground, like there was a particularly interesting particle of sand he had yet to examine.

"So... you're apologizing," the swordsman said warily, and Sanji nodded. "To me." Another nod. "Admitting you were wrong."

Finally the disbelieving tone wore the blond down and he hissed a curse, dropping his cigarette and stomping it into the sand viciously. "Yes, all right? I was a jackass, I didn't listen, and I'm sorry. Happy?"

Strangely, silence met the outburst, and Sanji glanced over after a moment to see Zoro's reaction. The swordsman was looking contemplative, eyes on his boots, and Sanji blinked in confusion. He had expected laughter, or taunting, maybe even gloating, but not this thoughtful silence. It was... unsettling.

"Zoro?" Sanji prompted, since the swordsman apparently had no plans of moving, and Zoro blinked as if jarred back to reality. Sanji scowled and started digging for a new cigarette, annoyance bubbling to the surface again. "If you don't give a shit it's fine, but you could at least–"

"Thanks."

It was Sanji's turn to be shocked silent. The cook stilled, then turned a confused look on Zoro, and the swordsman shifted under Sanji's gaze as he let his arms fall back to his sides.

"What?" Sanji asked, at a total loss.

"Thank you," Zoro repeated a bit stiffly at the blond's continued staring. "For, you know, helping me, back in the jungle." He shrugged uncomfortably, scratching the back of his neck and looking off to the side.

Sanji straightened and cleared his throat, nodding, though the swordsman wouldn't see it. "Er... yeah. Well. Nakama, right?"

"... Right," Zoro muttered, and then the stilted conversation died and the pair lapsed into awkward silence, both of them at a loss as to what to say, or if they should say anything at all.

It was Luffy's laughing cry of "Zoroooo! Help!" as he flailed around covered in flowers that finally broke the tension, and the swordsman cast one last brief look at Sanji before turning to run over to his captain, "Luffy, what the hell are you-- _Aaack!"_

Sanji sniffed and then laughed out loud when Zoro reached Luffy's side and the captain just tripped him up, obviously on purpose, and the swordsman ended up caught between trying to pummel Luffy and attempting to free himself from at least a hundred brightly-colored flowers that decided to take up residence on his person when he hit the sand.

Chopper managed to get to his feet and started yelling at Luffy to stop wrestling with Zoro because he was _still sick,_ and then Usopp tripped over the doctor and they both flopped on top of the rubber man, effectively squashing Zoro in the process.

It wasn't so bad, Sanji mused, being civil with Zoro. He might even try being nice more often. Though really, he thought as he walked along the beach toward the rest of his crew, if it took one of them nearly _dying_ to create an opening for polite conversation, he would probably stick with their normal dynamic.

"_Sanji,_" Luffy whined as the cook strolled past him, the captain's form obscured by merry little flowers that turned him into a poofy floral mess, "Help?"

Sanji scoffed and walked by him. "Ask the marimo; he can talk to them for you."

"I'll kill you, you bastard!" Zoro snarled from somewhere beneath Usopp, Chopper, and too many dancing flowers to count.

And as Sanji twirled his way to Nami and Robin, crooning about how no flower in the world could exceed their beauty, he promised himself he would try being nice to Zoro _later._ When the swordsman being covered in frilly pink flowers wasn't as funny.

~ ;3 ~

The send-off the Thousand Sunny and its crew received was spectacular, hundreds of flowers waving their farewells from the beach, a swaying mass of glorious color against the white sand. And even after the crew's voices had faded with distance and the ship was out of sight, one little white flower with a yellow cap kept waving for a good long time, until it finally joined its kin to sweep away and disappear into the jungles of Libitina.

! ~ :3 The End :3 ~ !

n-n I want to thank every one of you for reading this story, and for all of the support I got; without you guys – my reviewers, my watchers, all of you – I never would've made it past the first chapter. Thank you so much for sticking by me and this story, and I really hope you enjoyed reading Libitina as much as I enjoyed writing it. :D

Special thanks go to: TheDoublemintTwins11 for giving me uber-confidence.  
Kerykeion and Pamplemoose for being hilarious reviewers and providers of endless good moods.  
And, of course, a bottomless well of thanks go to my wonderful beta Gina (Lolo Popoki) for all of her hard work on this fic. :3 You may not think you did much, but really, you helped more than you can imagine.

Thanks so much, and I hope whatever I write next lives up to your expectations! x3

P.S. UH-OH! It's art. Courtesy of my sister. ;D Just change the "(DOT)" parts to real periods. ;p

http://img(DOT)photobucket(DOT)com/albums/v425/Soulxver/floweerrr(DOT)png


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